Death plunge
Subway worker falls to track as railing snaps
AN MTA TRACK worker, just six months on the job, fell 9 feet to his death on the tracks of an East Harlem subway station when a wooden railing splintered early Tuesday.
Co-workers in the tunnel near E. 125th St. heard a scream — and then saw the mortally wounded St. Clair Zaire Stephens Richards splayed out on the ground, authorities said.
The weeping father of the 6-foot-3, 270-pound worker fretted that his son’s massive size played a part in the shocking subterranean death — and blamed himself for not voicing his concerns.
“He should’ve took care of himself,” said his dad, named St. Clair Stephens Richards. “I told him he always has to be aware. That’s why I wanted him fit, and not too overweight.
“To do that job, you always to have your head on a swivel.”
The elder Richards, with tears running down his face, acknowledged the two hadn’t spoken in a year over his disdain for the son’s girlfriend.
“Maybe if I had talked to him more, kept talking to him, maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” said the distraught dad, who still shared his home with the victim.
“I was thinking if I would have told him before he left this morning, ‘Be careful’ . . . I can’t believe this. I really can’t.”
The 23-year-old Richards joined the MTA on Sept. 11, according to his Facebook page.
“In shock, disbelief,” a friend posted on the site. “Such an easy-going, good dude. Prayers to your family and friends.”
Tony Utano, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, confirmed that “the railing did break” before the 4:50 a.m. fall that wreaked havoc on East Side subway service for the morning rush hour.
“All our members are going to be talked to, to see exactly what the hell went wrong here,” said Utano.
But it remained unclear exactly what happened — whether the victim was leaning against the rail, if he stumbled and fell through it, or something else.
Richards was working on a stretch of a downtown tunnel for the No. 6 train when he tumbled through the railing, landing on his head after a 9-foot plunge onto the express Nos. 4-5 train tracks.
He was pulled alive onto the platform at the E. 125th St. station and died about an hour later. Desperate CPR efforts failed to resuscitate the worker.
“This is something you dread, working in this line of business,“said Transit Authority President Andy Byford.
FDNY members brought Richards’ body out of the station as MTA workers removed their helmets and hung their heads in respectful silence.
Subway service was disrupted on the East Side after the tragedy until around 10:15 a.m., officials said.