Officials are investigating after a 39-year-old man was killed Tuesday night when he was reportedly caught and dragged into a subway tunnel by a 7 train at Grand Central Terminal.
Early reports of the incident said that the man’s clothing or strap of his bag became caught on the train as it left the station. NYPD said that it could not confirm that immediately but that the incident is under review.
At about 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a 911 call for a person struck by a train at 42nd Street and Grand Central subway station, per the NYPD. When officers arrived, they found a “39-year-old male unconscious and unresponsive with severe trauma to the body,” the department said in a statement.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death as part of the ongoing investigation.
An NYPD spokesperson said that the man did appear to be intoxicated, according to surveillance footage. He was reportedly walking close to the edge of the platform, along the yellow caution line, when the 7 train pulled out.
Per surveillance camera footage, a police source told the New York Times, the man was seen walking down the platform stairs and then later, his body is seen “being thrown against a staircase and pulled into the tunnel.” He reportedly struck an electrical box, setting of “a flash that caught the attention of the train operators and forced them to stop it,” the source told the Times.
The man has not yet been identified as officials are waiting to properly notify his family. In a statement, an MTA spokesperson said that this was “obviously a terrible tragedy” and that the incident is under investigation by the NYPD and transit safety officials.
“It appears that the train was already moving when the customer entered the platform,” the spokesperson said in an email. “It subsequently appears he made contact with the side of the train.”
It was not the case that the man’s bag or clothing got caught within the train doors, per the MTA. The spokesperson said that though it is “so far unclear what caused the customer to make contact with the train, as the train was already in motion, the doors were already closed.”
The subway platform was also not crowded at the time of the incident, according to the MTA.
The incident caused delays on the 7 line Tuesday night, with the New York City Subway Twitter account tweeting around 7:45 p.m. about“delays and service changes in 7 and 7 express service in both directions between Manhattan and Queens because a person was struck by a train at Grand Central-42 St.”
Later, at around 9:30 p.m., the account tweeted that “We are in the process of restoring 7 train service after a person was fatally struck by a train at Grand Central-42 St. This train also had a mechanical problem as a result of the impact.”
