The person who the police mentioned pushed a subway rider in entrance of an oncoming practice in East Harlem on Monday night time, killing him, seems to have had a historical past of committing violent acts towards others and struggles with psychological sickness.
The person, Carlton McPherson, 24, was arrested and charged with homicide after pushing one other man in entrance of an oncoming No. 4 practice, the police mentioned. The person who was killed was recognized by two police officers and an inside report as Jason Volz, 54.
It was almost 7 p.m. when a number of individuals standing on the uptown platform at one hundred and twenty fifth Road and Lexington Avenue noticed Mr. McPherson stroll as much as Mr. Volz and, seemingly with out provocation, push him in entrance of an oncoming practice, in accordance with the inner police report.
Responding officers discovered Mr. Volz beneath the practice automobile with “extreme trauma to the physique and face,” in accordance with the report. He was pronounced lifeless on the scene. Witnesses identified Mr. McPherson to officers as he was leaving the scene and he was arrested.
Anna Torres, Mr. Volz’s ex-wife, mentioned he was recovering from dependancy and had simply moved into a brand new condo. She mentioned he had been sober for 2 years. He was somebody who was “actually turning issues round,” she mentioned.
“It simply looks as if such a waste,” Ms. Torres mentioned in a cellphone interview Tuesday. “That is loopy as a result of he survived the pandemic, survived being homeless. He obtained higher, he obtained clear and all the pieces was working.”
Mr. McPherson’s prison historical past seems up to now again years.
The Bronx district legal professional’s workplace mentioned {that a} Carlton McPherson with the identical beginning date and tackle, whom the workplace believed to be the identical individual, was charged on the age of 16 with assaulting one other teenager within the Bronx, after punching him within the face with brass knuckles and fracturing his nostril.
And final October, a person with Mr. McPherson’s identify and yr of beginning was charged in Brooklyn with assault, menacing and prison possession of a weapon for putting one other man with a strolling cane at a homeless shelter. Mr. McPherson was arraigned and given supervised launch.
He then obtained a bench warrant and was introduced again to courtroom in January. He was held on bail after failing to seem to courtroom, however prosecutors have been required by regulation to launch him when the sufferer was reluctant to cooperate, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district legal professional’s workplace mentioned.
In a quick cellphone interview, Mr. McPherson’s mom, Octavia Scouras, mentioned he had been raised by his paternal grandmother from a younger age. “I did all the pieces potential so this baby would have a greater life,” Ms. Scouras mentioned.
Ms. Scouras, who mentioned she additionally lived in New York Metropolis, mentioned that Mr. McPherson had been hospitalized at the least twice for psychological well being therapy. Brian Chelcun, a Authorized Help lawyer who represented Mr. McPherson within the October case, declined to remark when reached on Tuesday.
The assault occurred as a string of violent episodes within the subway system have left some New Yorkers on edge.
Surveys by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway, have proven that important numbers of riders really feel unsafe, with many citing concern of crime and erratic conduct. Evaluation of crime knowledge from latest years is difficult by altering ridership numbers because the system continues to rebound from the lows of the coronavirus pandemic. Knowledge from latest years present that main crime on the subway decreased barely in 2023 in contrast with the yr earlier than, as ridership rose.
However some classes of crime that trigger New Yorkers specific alarm, comparable to felony assault, have risen far above prepandemic ranges. And in 2024, general crime within the metropolis’s transit system is up about 7 % by way of March 17, in contrast with the identical interval final yr.
Three murders and three shootings have been reported throughout the transit system, in contrast with one homicide and one capturing throughout the identical interval final yr.
Earlier this month, a chaotic confrontation on the A practice ended when one man took a gun from one other man who was threatening him and shot him within the head, in accordance with the police.
Police Division leaders gathered at one other Harlem subway station hours earlier than the shoving occurred on Monday to announce that a further 800 cops could be despatched into the subway system to crack down on fare evasion.
And that deployment was along with the 1,000 cops that Mayor Eric Adams mentioned would start patrolling the system in February after a forty five % spike in main crimes — comparable to robberies, homicides and assaults — in January, in comparison with the identical time final yr.
At a information convention on Tuesday, Mr. Adams mentioned there had been six cops on the one hundred and twenty fifth Road station on Monday night time, each on the platform and close by.
“They have been current,” he mentioned. “However if you’re coping with a extreme psychological well being disaster or if you wish to take part in prison conduct, we’ve now reached some extent the place we’ve these so emboldened by that they will preserve doing their actions, that the uniform not means something.”
On Tuesday, on the condo constructing the place Mr. McPherson typically stayed within the Bronx, neighbors mentioned they’d seen him on a number of events mumbling to himself.
Marco Paredes, who has lived within the constructing for 17 years, mentioned he had seen Mr. McPherson sleep in a hallway closet within the constructing.
“That child’s been having a variety of issues recently,” he mentioned.
Liset Cruz, Claire Fahy and Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed analysis.