Man struck, killed by train was pushed onto tracks, police say

Man, 57, charged with murder after Bloor-Yonge subway death

Homicide detectives have charged a man with first-degree murder in the death of a man they believe was pushed onto the subway tracks at Bloor-Yonge station Monday.

Police said the victim was a man in his 50s or 60s.

According to homicide Det. Rob North, the victim was on the eastbound platform at about 10:15 a.m. before he was pushed onto the tracks as the train entered the station.

In a news release, police said the victim was injured on the tracks and taken to hospital, where he died.

Police charged a 57-year-old man with first-degree murder, North said Monday night, adding the man was scheduled to appear in court at College Park this morning.

North told CP24 the man was “murdered viciously, pushed in front of a train.” He appealed for witnesses to come forward and noted that police have not yet identified the victim, who he described as Asian with white hair and wearing a white baseball cap, shorts and blue sneakers.

One witness described the incident as “really distressing.”

The TTC assured riders that such incidents, however frightening, are “incredibly rare.”

It has been more than 20 years since someone was pushed off a Toronto subway platform and died, according to the TTC, though there have been more recent non-fatal cases.

North said there was a brief encounter between the two men before Monday’s incident, but declined to provide details.

“Based on what we’ve seen so far, the push happened very quickly, and there was none to very limited interaction between our deceased and our accused,” North said.

At the time of Monday’s incident, there were about 50 people in the station, but TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said the platform was not busy.

The victim was standing at the far end of the platform when the train was halfway into the station, police said.

“What we believe happened is our victim exits the platform area of the subway station, is proceeding to walk forward to the train, there’s some sort of interaction, and our victim ends up being hit by the train,” North said earlier Monday.

Commuter Carol Auld was on the platform when the incident occurred. She described seeing a blur and hearing the sound of the train hitting the man. The power on the train subsequently went out.

“They’ve got to have more security in TTC stations,” Auld said in an interview. “They’ve got to have people trained to watch out for this. It’s just really distressing. I don’t want to ride the subway anymore.”

The station was reopened around 4:30 p.m. after being closed for several hours so police could investigate.

In a statement, the TTC said it “will learn from this tragedy and will review any measures that could further reduce the chances of it happening again.”

The last fatal incident was in 1997. Charlene Minkowski, a 23-year-old law clerk, was waiting for a train at a busy Dundas subway station when she was pushed by Herbert Cheong, a man with a history of mental illness.

Cheong was convicted of second-degree murder after court heard he developed a plan to kill someone.

A Crown attorney at the time called it “a form of urban terrorism . . . totally random.”

In 2009, three boys were pushed into the path of a train at Dufferin station. Two of them fell to the tracks while the third maintained his balance. Of the boys who fell, one suffered minor injuries and the other had two toes amputated. The man who pushed them, Adenir De Oliveira, was found not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.

Police are urging witnesses to Monday’s incident to contact investigators at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers at 416222-TIPS (8477).