Grisly Gravesend Subway Accident Revealed

A subway operator failed to search adequately for the body of a commuter that fell between cars, clearing the way for 10 more trains to run it over before being discovered, a report from the New York Post reveals.

The incident occurred on March 28 at the Kings Highway station of the N train, in Gravesend.

Here’s the story from the Post:

The tragedy unfolded as Arabell Lin, 25, who has a prosthetic right leg, was walking between the cars of a Coney Island-bound N train on March 28.

After she fell, she hit a device on one of the cars that triggers the emergency brake when the train encounters an obstruction.

The operator, whose name was not released, got out of the cab and spent seven minutes walking up and down the track, looking under each car for whatever caused the train to stop.

Then the operator climbed aboard and continued the trip.

Police interviewed the operator — who reported having been unaware that someone was stuck under the train, according to law-enforcement officials.

MTA investigators who re-enacted the incident determined the operator had not spent enough time searching.

“If she was still alive, [he or she] messed up her chances,” said one veteran train operator.

Lin had been walking between the fourth and fifth cars of the 10-car train when she slipped. After service resumed, 10 more trains passed over her horribly mangled remains before anyone noticed.

It was not clear when the original accident happened, but the body was discovered at about 3 p.m.

The tragedy occurred just north of the Kings Highway station, where the line runs below ground in an open cut where visibility presumably is better than in a tunnel.

Her body was in such bad shape that cops had to check missing-person reports to find out who she was.

Lin, who lived in Astoria and had attended SUNY Albany on a scholarship, had not been carrying identification.

Hours after the accident, MTA officials scrambled to test the 11 train crews for drugs and alcohol, with some rushed employees arriving at the testing facility in their pajamas, a source said.

No one tested positive.

The MTA eventually demoted the train operator, a 12-year veteran, to tower operator.

“Based upon the investigation of this accident, it was concluded that the train operator failed to properly investigate,” a New York City Transit spokesman said.