Man And Woman Hit, Killed By Subway In Harlem, Police Say

HARLEM, NY — A man and a woman who may have been homeless were both killed when they were struck by a train at a Hamilton Heights subway stop Friday morning, police said.

Just after 10:30 a.m., the downtown 1 train was puling into the 145th Street-Broadway station when it hit the two people, who were already on the tracks when they were struck, an NYPD spokesperson said.

Police believe they may have been homeless, according to an NYPD spokesperson. Few other details were available.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who represents the area, called the collision "a tragedy" on Twitter.

"If the reports are true, it means that two people died because they did not have a safe place to be," he said. "These were not subway deaths. This is death by unaffordable housing."

Pat Warren, the MTA's chief safety and security officer, said the tragedy underlined the danger of walking on the subway tracks.

"It’s lunacy that people are voluntarily intruding on subway tracks, requiring transit workers to risk their own safety looking for encampments day in, day out," Warren said in a statement later Friday afternoon.

"We shouldn’t have to keep saying it: tracks are dangerous and walking on them is illegal, obviously life-threatening and can impact thousands of other riders. As Mayor Adams says, there has to be a better alternative for people who need housing and help."

The collision affected service along the 1 line, with no trains running between 96th Street and Dyckman Street starting around 11 a.m. Normal service resumed, with delays, shortly after 1 p.m.