THE NAKED & THE DEAD
Subway Samaritan fearlessly aided vic, horrified by 3rd-rail death of mad shover
When Tyler Horrell left his Harlem apartment to grab a tamarind juice for his wife, he never imagined he would wind up battling a naked man on the subway tracks — only to watch his adversary die on the third rail.
The naked man had just pushed a stranger onto the tracks as a train approached, and became enraged when Horrell jumped down onto the rails to try to help the victim.
“Never in my life, I didn’t think I’d be a part of something like last night,” Horrell, 55, told the Daily News on Sunday.
“I still see the images playing in my head. I’m asking myself, What could I have done differently so that this individual didn’t lose his life? I will never forget about this incident that I was so close to someone who died. What if I stumbled back and fell and hit the third rail? So many things going through my mind.”
Horrell walked into the Centra Park North-110th St. station about 4 p.m. on Saturday planning to grab the juice for his wife while making a stop for takeout at his favorite restaurant, Sweet Mama’s Soul Food. He was only going four stops and would make it back in time to watch the Packers play the Rams on TV, he figured.
A subway countdown clock showed his train was two minutes away when he swiped in just in time to see the naked homeless man, identified by police sources as 35-year-old Malik Jackson, shoving a stranger.
A witness told the Daily News on Saturday that Jackson was dancing next to strangers and that when the 43-year-old victim took offense, Jackson pushed him.
The victim “went toward the edge of the platform and as he lost his balance [Jackson] pushed him again and he fell onto the tracks,” Horrell said. “The train is coming around the bend. You had about 25 people screaming at the top of their lungs for the train to stop and by the grace of God it did.”
That’s when Horrell, a disabled Army veteran, sprung into action, leaping down to help the victim lying on the tracks less than 30 feet from the stopped train.
“I have both of my knees replaced and a back injury — none of that was in my mind,” Horrell said. “I saw a human, and it was the human in me. I know not everyone sees it the way I see it, but this is the way God made me. I will always be compassionate.”
“I just jumped down to help,” he added. “He wasn’t moving and he is literally lying vertically across the tracks so if the train didn’t stop the train would have cut him in half . . . . I thought he was dead at first. Even moving him, there was no sound. As I’m picking him off the rail, I’m telling people to call the police.”
Jackson seemed to be on his way out of the the station when he noticed Horrell helping the victim — and grew irate.
“The naked guy returned and he squatted down and we were faceto-face, even though he was up on the platform and I was down on the tracks,” Horrell said.
“He was looking directly at me. . . . I told him to get out of here. He takes a swing at me so I move my head back but next thing I know is he leaps from the platform toward me. I’m not even conscious of the third rail behind me, I’m just trying to keep him off of me and this man.”
Witnesses say Horrell, trying to defend himself and protect the victim, walloped Jackson, who fell to the ground. As Jackson moved to get back up, his shoulder hit the third rail, despite onlookers shouting out warnings. The rail’s 625 volts killed him instantly.
“When he went down on the ground I also went down on the ground,” Horrell said. “I think I was so close to him in that moment that what was emanating from his body hit me . . . . I felt his jolt in my right finger. I don’t know if I was touching him or it was just [from] being on the ground, but it was really crazy.”
“I’ve never felt anything like that in my life,” Horrell said. “I say, ‘Man if you had been a little closer imagine what would have happened.’ ”
Straphangers helped Horrell back onto the platform as Jackson’s body burned.
“I start to see smoke emanate from his body and a few minutes later you notice the smell,” he said. “I was just trying to help. Really it’s about the train operator being able to stop. I’m just thanking God it wasn’t worse than it was.”
First responders removed the pushed man from the tracks and took him to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital, where he was expected to recover.
Horrell moved to Harlem from North Carolina with his wife five years ago and works for Union Settlement, a nonprofit that helps juveniles in the criminal justice system.
He recognized Jackson from around the neighborhood and said his behavior had always been odd but never violent.
“When he’d walk down the street, he’d walk down the center line, not the sidewalk. Cars would pass him by,” Horrell said. “I’ve never seen him bother anyone. He was always real quiet.”
Jackson was staying at the Cambridge Hotel, a homeless shelter on W. 110th St. less than a block from the station where he died.
His mother, Ethel Trammell, told The News he’s suffered from mental illness since he was 17, but was normally a kind, caring soul when he took his medication.
The pandemic meant fewer visits from mental health professionals, though, and he stopped taking his meds, she said.
“He didn’t have nobody that really followed up with him,” she said. “My son is not like that, but because he hasn’t had medication in a long time, that’s probably why he was acting like that. My son would never hurt nobody.”
Residents and workers at the shelter said Jackson rushed out the door on Saturday before anyone could stop him.
“He was butt naked, I don’t think he was sober,” said David, a security guard at the shelter who declined to give his last name. “I told him, ‘Get back in your room! Go back in your f——-g room!’ ”
“He hesitated, like he wanted to listen,” David added. “But the drug that he was on told him to run straight out the building.”
The guard had brought Jackson food a day before his death.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” David said of Jackson’s death. “He used to come to the booth, ask me for cigarettes, ask me if I need something from the store.”
One of Jackson’s neighbors who declined to be named said he trailed the naked man out of the shelter to try to talk some sense into him. But by the time he caught up with him at the station, Jackson was already dead.
“I followed him, trying to figure out what was gonna happen,” the neighbor said. “Two or three minutes later, I hear people screaming.”
Horrell has compassion for Jackson, despite being attacked by him.
“There were two people who needed help last night, one was a man with mental illness,” said Horrell. “His cry for help was his actions and his cry for help was ignored.”
Horrell wishes straphangers had called the cops as soon as Jackson showed up in the buff.
“I feel like it could have been avoided. People seemed more interested in posting on Instagram than calling for help,” he said. “I just hope through this unfortunate situation, that the man who passed away, his situation can serve humanity — how can we do things differently.”
“Mental illness is a big thing,” he added. “The reason why I’m compassionate is because if you see someone who needs help, you help them, it’s my morals and values, my relationship with God. If I was in need of help, I’d want people to help me. People have helped me.”
Horrell said he had so much adrenaline flowing during the encounter he didn’t realize he was hurt.
“When they took me to the hospital to be looked at we noticed abrasions on my knees and pain in my neck and shoulder,” he said. “This morning it’s just like really painful.”
“People are coming up to me calling me a hero,” he added. “I’m not a hero, man. That’s just a God-given responsibility, to help people when they are in need.” His advice for New Yorkers? “Just pay attention to your surroundings because you never know who may be going through a moment. It’s better to be safe than sorry, to notify someone and try to get someone help. It may make all the difference in the world because time is of the essence,” he said. “You see someone in need, help them. You may make all the difference in the world in their life.”
Saturday’s incident was the latest in a rash of New Yorkers being pushed onto tracks by strangers.
On Thursday evening, a 32-yearold a man waiting for a downtown N train at Times Square was shoved onto the tracks by a stranger. He managed to hoist himself to safety before a train arrived. The pusher ran off and has not been caught.On Dec. 24 at 2 a.m., MTA station manager Kumar Narinder, 70, suffered a fractured spine and head injuries after being hurled to the tracks by a crazed fare-beater — barely missing the third rail. His 27-year-old attacker was arrested.
In November, straphangers survived being shoved to the tracks by homeless people at the 42nd St.-Bryant Park station and at Union Square. Both attackers were arrested.