DEATH-SHOVE CHARGES
Slay rap in random subway attack; killed man with ‘big heart’
Police have charged the man they say shoved a stranger into the path of an oncoming East Harlem subway train during a horrific unprovoked attack.
Carlton Mcpherson, 24, is facing murder charges for the Monday night random attack at the 125th St. No. 4 station, resulting in the death of Jason Volz, 54.
The suspect, a Bronx resident, was out on bail after he assaulted a man with a cane in Brooklyn on Halloween, cops and court papers say.
Mcpherson was on the uptown platform when he allegedly shoved Volz onto the tracks. A moment later, a No. 4 train rumbled into the station, fatally striking the victim.
Cops found Volz under a train car. He died at the scene of severe injuries to his face and body.
Stunned straphangers alerted cops on the mezzanine, who ran down to the platform and took Mcpherson into custody as the suspect walked past them, a police source with knowledge of the case said.
Volz was born and raised in Corona,
Queens, and then Long Island, graduating from high school in Huntington, said family. He is survived by a daughter.
“I remember the day he was born, May 3, 1969,” uncle, Eddie Volz, 71, said in a phone interview. “I remember when he came home from the hospital.
“He’s a good redheaded articulate human being that had his trials and tribulations in life but he got through them,” said the grieving relative. “He had a very big heart.”
Neighbors described the victim as an “honest” and “respectful” man who always wore a hat wherever he went.
“I was just talking to him yesterday morning,” neighbor Sammy Sanchez, 58, told the Daily News on Tuesday. “I can’t believe that was the last time. It just feels so cold. For that to happen … I just feel so heartbroken.
“Now when I’m in the subway, I hold onto the beam just in case anyone does anything stupid,” he added.
Another New Yorker described Volz as generous, lending help whenever it was needed.
“He looked out for me and I really appreciated that. He was a real nice man. Damn, I just seen him,” said Tony Brown.
Brown said during a period of homelessness, Volz gave him food and let him take showers and change at his place.
“Always made sure I had something to eat,” Brown said of the victim. “After I got my place, I didn’t come by here much anymore. Damn. I’m really devastated.”
Volz was “kind of a loner” and worked as a carpenter, according to Brown.
Mcpherson has been arrested multiple times and is believed to be emotionally disturbed. The NYPD responded to at least one prior incident in which he was acting erratically, according to police sources.
Last Halloween, he was arrested on assault, menacing, harassment and other charges for allegedly bashing a worker at a Myrtle Ave. shelter in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with a cane, cops and prosecutors said. The victim was hit in the leg, arm and face, but wasn’t seriously harmed.
When Mcpherson was arraigned on the charges, he was not given bail but was put on supervised release.
Mcpherson was arrested again when he failed to show up to court and was held on $2,000 cash bail. He was ultimately released after the victim of the assault refused to cooperate and prosecutors were unable to get an indictment.
“The defendant was held on bail after failing to appear in court,” a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said. “Unfortunately, the victim’s reluctance to cooperate meant that, by law, he had to be released.”
Mcpherson was due to return to court on the assault charges in July.
Cops also arrested him for fare evasion at a Brownsville train stop in November and for two burglaries last year in Brooklyn and Queens.
Monday’s attack came as authorities have been struggling to crack down on subway crime.
As of March 24, cops have seen a 7% jump in felony assaults, from 124 this time last year to 133.
Monday’s attack also marked the fourth homicide in the city’s transit system in the first three months of the year. This time last year, only one homicide had taken place.
Eight hundred more police officers are being sent into the subway system to crack down on fare evasion, NYPD brass said earlier Monday — an effort they hope will reduce overall levels of crime in the system.
The 800 uniformed and plainclothes cops conducting fare enforcement operations will join the 1,000 cops added to the system in February following an uptick in pickpocketing and grand larcenies at the start of the year.
“He was a gentle, easy person,” Brown said of Volz. “He would give you his heart if he had to.”
The MTA is expected to approve a congestion pricing tolling plan Wednesday, ahead of a June launch for the program — barring a judicial ruling favoring New Jerseyans or others who oppose the plan.
With much back-and-forth since then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg first proposed the idea of congestion pricing 14 years ago — including some last-minute tweaks announced this week — Gothamites can be forgiven if they’ve lost track of exactly how the transit authority plans to make congestion pricing work.
But the Daily News is here to help. How much will it cost to drive a car into the congestion zone?
Under the plan before the MTA’s board, the toll to enter Midtown and lower Manhattan will be $15 — for most motorists, in most vehicles, most of the time, as long as they have E-ZPass.
Drivers entering through an already-tolled crossing — the Holland, Lincoln, Battery or Midtown tunnels — will receive a $5 discount making the congestion toll $10.
All drivers will receive a 75% discount off the regular toll overnight, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. That means that during those hours, the fee for cars will drop from $15 down to $3.75. But during those hours, the $5 tunnel discount will not apply.
The discounts and base tolls will scale depending on the size of the vehicle. Motorcyclists’ base toll will be $7.50, and their tunnel-crossing credit will be $2.50.
Small box trucks will be charged $24, while big rigs will rack up a $36 base fee.
Drivers in vehicles without E-ZPass will be charged 50% more — $22.50 for cars — and will not be eligible for the tunnel-crossing discount.
The MTA reserves the right to raise the toll by 25% on days the city deems “gridlock alert days” — historically high-traffic days like the winter holidays or during the United Nations General Assembly.
Transit and commuter buses — whether operated by the MTA, another public agency, or a private company — will be exempt from the toll, so long as they are open to the public and run on a regular schedule. Examples include long-distance bus service like MegaBus or the Hampton Jitney, as well as smaller TLC licensed commuter vans.
School buses under contract with the city’s Department of Education will also be exempt.
All other buses, be they private intercity charters or employee shuttles, will be tolled as trucks according to their size.
Specialized municipal vehicles, like garbage trucks and street sweepers, will be exempt, as will emergency vehicles. MTA officials have said they will also exempt city-owned cars used by various city inspectors and agency officials who need access to the congestion zone.
Will motorists be charged every time they drive into the congestion zone?
For most drivers, no. Under the plan, most motorists would be charged only once a day for entering the congestion zone. Cars, small vans and pickup trucks that drive in and out of the zone several times a day — for instance, a courier making multiple delivery runs in and out of the zone — will only be charged once.
The system will reset at midnight, MTA officials said. That means drivers who enter the zone in the early morning hours — before 5 a.m. on a weekday — would be charged only the 75% discounted overnight rate that day.
But there’s a big exception for larger vehicles, such as trucks and nonexempt buses, which will pay the toll at a higher rate than passenger cars. Under the plan, they will be charged each time they enter the zone.
The system will work differently for taxis, Ubers and other for-hire vehicles. Cars with Taxi and Limousine Commission plates will pay a surcharge on every hired trip into or out of the congestion zone that will be added to customers’ fares.
If drivers will only be charged when they enter the congestion zone, why are cameras installed on roads leading out of it?
Attentive New Yorkers have noticed congestion tolling cameras positioned above roads leading out of the zone — or even out of the city, such as at the entrance to the New Jersey-bound tube of the Holland Tunnel.
While MTA officials did originally float the idea of charging motorists for days