A man was struck and killed by a New York City subway train in Sunnyside, Queens, Thursday night when he was apparently pushed onto the tracks by a stranger.

The incident—the second such fatality this month—unfolded just after 8 p.m. at the Queens Boulevard and 40th Street-Lowery Street station on the No. 7 line.


Witnesses told investigators the man was shoved onto the tracks by a heavyset woman who had been walking back and forth on the platform talking to herself, said Paul Browne, the chief spokesman for the New York Police Department. The woman then fled the scene.

The man was struck by the first car of an 11-car northbound No. 7 train and got stuck under the wheels of the second car, Mr. Browne said. The victim, who was declared dead at the scene, wasn't identified.

The victim had "terrible injuries that make providing a description difficult at this time," Mr. Browne said.

A woman suspected of shoving a man onto the subway tracks in Queens was captured on surveillance video. NYPD

Mr. Browne said five witnesses on the platform saw the incident. The suspect was described as a Hispanic woman who appeared to be in her 20s and was 5-feet-5-inches tall, with brown or blonde hair. Mr. Browne said she was wearing a gray, blue and white ski jacket and Nike sneakers with gray on top and red soles. The suspect fled the platform, down two separate staircases, one down to the token booth area and the second down to Queens Boulevard. Police were examining surveillance video in the area Thursday night in their search.

Mr. Browne said the witnesses described a scene in which the woman rose from a bench on the platform, went behind the man and then pushed him onto the tracks as the train pulled into the station.

"It's a relatively narrow platform," Mr. Browne said

He said the man and woman didn't appear to know each other. "According to witnesses he did not appear to notice her either then or before" the incident, Mr. Browne said.

The death is the second fatality this month in which a victim was pushed in front of a subway train.

On Dec. 3, 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han died after he was pushed onto the tracks at the 49th Street station in Manhattan. Naeem Davis, a 30-year-old homeless man, was charged with murder in that case. Mr. Han of Elmhurst, Queens, died when a southbound Q-train struck him as he tried unsuccessfully to climb out of the track bed.

Mr. Davis was arrested after detectives tracked him down using images captured by cellphone video shot by a witness, showing the tense moments before the deadly push.

In the video, Mr. Davis is seen and heard profanely imploring Mr. Han to leave him alone. It was still unclear, however, what prompted the heated exchange.

One witness told investigators that Mr. Davis was yelling and behaving erratically and that Mr. Han had tried to calm him down shortly before the violent encounter.