'I'll Never Forget': Witness Recalls Man Hit By Brooklyn Train

BROOKLYN, NY — Nora Palka was having a normal Tuesday afternoon, waiting in her usual spot on the Q train platform when she saw something she'll never forget: a man hit head-on by a subway train.

"He flew 15 feet, twisted and landed right next to me," Palka said. "I was screaming."

Suddenly Palka's quiet wait in the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station became a blur of action, she told Patch.

As straphangers realized what happened, Palka remembers pressing the emergency button, a woman checking if the man was breathing and a man calling 911.

Within minutes, emergency responders had flooded the platform.

"I was so afraid to look at him," Palka said. "When I saw him get taken away — he looked so beaten up, I was like, 'How could he possibly survive this?'"

Fortunately, the man, who is 23 years old, had survived the impact. As of Thursday he was in critical condition at a nearby hospital, according to police.

The man was one of three people hit by a subway train this week, including a man who was fatally run over by a 7 train at Grand Central Station Tuesday, just 30 minutes before the Barclays Center incident, according to police. A person was also hit by a train in Harlem on Wednesday.

The incidents also came only a few days after 40-year-old Michelle Go was pushed in front of a Q train at the Times Square stop, causing her death.

Palka said hearing of Go's death in part had first made her notice the man she'd seen hit Tuesday. He was standing close to the edge, leaning against a pillar with several bags, she said.

"With everything that happened over the weekend, I think a lot of New Yorkers are paying extra close attention," Palka said.

As they waited for the train, the man lit a cigarette, only extinguishing it after another passenger asked several times for him to put it out, Palka said.

The man, who Palka said seemed to be "struggling to stand up straight," eventually put a new cigarette to his lips, but didn't light it.

"He seemed really out of it," she said.

When she glanced back over as the train came in, Palka said she saw that the man was leaning over the tracks. The train hit his head and right shoulder. When he landed, it seemed like his legs had broken, she said.

After the crash, the passenger who had asked him to put the cigarette out, who had a better view, told Palka it looked like the man lost his balance after leaning down to grab his backpack, which was sitting a little over the platform's edge.

Police included Palka's statement about the backpack in their official report later that day.

Those moments replaying in her head the last few days, and learning about the other incidents, has made Palka think about larger issues facing the city.

"It mostly addresses a mental health crisis we have in the city," she said. "The pandemic has obviously exacerbated this."

Palka said even as emergency responders were helping the man, cops had to stop another person who had started walking along the yellow edge of the platform.

"I covered my ears and I screamed no," Palka said. "This was within minutes."

The train incidents come only a few weeks after Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to bring an "omnipresence" of police to the city's subway system. The cops will be coupled with new "safe option support teams" who will reach out to homeless people within the subway system, according to the governor.

Palka said while she supports more services at the stations, and maybe adding safety rails or other measures, she also has realized how important it is for everyday New Yorkers to play their part.

"Be present and look out for yourself and the people around you. If you see somebody standing close to the track: say something," she said. "It could save somebody's life...Taking a little extra energy to make sure your fellow New Yorkers are okay."

New Yorkers looking out for one another was one of the only hopeful moments through her own experience, which has left her near "panic mode" all week, Palka said.

"It was kind of amazing to see people looking to see how they can help," she said, recalling how passengers even checked in to make sure she was okay. "The better of humanity really does come out."

Still, the incident has stayed with her. On Thursday, Palka braced herself to go back on the subway for the first time since the incident.

As she came back from work, the train stopped at the Barclays station and a group of little girls boarded the train car. Suddenly, a worry flashed in Palka's mind.

"I watched this mom and her daughter and daughter's friends get on the train," Palka said. "And I'm thinking, 'What [would] it do to them to see that, to see a body fly through the air the way that I did?'"