NYC Subway Rider Killed After Plastic Bag Became Trapped in Train Doors

Sneakers are seen at the scene where a person was fatally struck by a train.

A 57-year-old man was killed in a freak subway accident in Brooklyn after a plastic bag he was carrying became trapped between the doors of a departing train, according to police and sources familiar with the incident.

Yaw Boahene was getting off a northbound A train at the Utica Avenue station in Bedford-Stuyvesant at around 5:50 p.m. Monday when the accident unfolded during the evening rush.

Boahene, who used a cane, had already stepped onto the platform when his blue plastic bag became caught between the subway doors. As the train began pulling away, he was reportedly still holding onto it.

Desperate attempt to stop the departing train

According to police and sources, Boahene began banging on the train doors with his cane as the subway accelerated out of the station.

One source familiar with the incident said the plastic bag was extremely thin, raising the possibility that the train’s door sensors did not detect that anything was trapped between them.

Boahene continued holding the bag as the moving train pulled him along the platform. Sources said he eventually slammed into a wall near the end of the platform before falling onto the tracks behind the departing train.

Authorities clarified that Boahene was not run over by the subway itself, which had already left the station.

Emergency responders rushed to the scene, but he was pronounced dead there. Police said the incident was not considered criminal.

Officials initially reported that a backpack had become caught in the doors, but police later clarified that the item was a blue plastic bag.

Passenger recalls screams inside train and on platform

A woman who was aboard the train described a chaotic and deeply disturbing scene as the subway continued moving.

“His bag got caught in the door and the train just kept moving,” she said.

The witness said she initially could not see what was happening but could hear alarming sounds, followed by people screaming both inside the train and on the platform.

She described the experience as “super traumatic” and said it appeared the conductor did not immediately realize what had happened.

The woman said she ultimately called 911 because she did not see MTA staff at the station.

Questions raised after fatal accident

Boahene’s last known address was a shelter in East Flatbush, according to police.

A 75-year-old resident of the shelter said the tragedy reflected a danger he had previously worried about while carrying his own bag on the subway. He said the incident would make him more cautious in the future, particularly when entering or leaving trains in a hurry.

Another man who lives near the Utica Avenue station questioned whether the situation should have been noticed before the train departed, saying the conductor should know when something is caught in the doors.

The MTA described Boahene’s death as a “terrible accident” but did not say whether any existing safety mechanism could have prevented it.

Similar incidents have occurred on New York City’s subway system in the past. In 2022, a commuter was killed after clothing or bags became trapped in train doors at the Columbus Circle station in Manhattan.

Other passengers have survived being dragged along platforms after becoming caught in subway doors, including a grandmother injured in Manhattan in 2003 and a 12-year-old girl who was dragged approximately 20 feet in a 2001 incident.

In Boahene’s case, what began as an ordinary evening commute ended within moments after a thin plastic bag became caught in the doors of a departing train.