Vandal derails transit system
Track ‘saboteur’ wrecks A train
New York’s mass transit was thrown into chaos Sunday when a Manhattan subway train flew off the rails Sunday morning — after an unhinged vandal tossed chunks of metal onto the tracks, according to officials and sources.
The northbound A train carrying 135 passengers was pulling into 14th Street and Eighth Avenue at around 8:20 a.m. when it hit the debris, forcing four wheels off the track, said Frank Jezycki, the MTA’s acting senior vice president for subways.
The train sideswiped 10 steel beams as it screeched to a halt, peeling back a huge chunk of metal from the front and left side of the cars, according to sources and the incident report.
Some 180 feet of the third rail were torn off during the derailment, the report said.
The incident caused power to be shut down on the A line from Canal Street to 34th Street, where another uptown train carrying 125 passengers was stranded and had to be evacuated, according to officials.
“What it appears to be is some form of vandalism, something that was put on the track,” said MTA Chief Safety Officer Pat Warren.
Demetrius Harvard, 30, who is believed to be homeless and mentally ill, was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, assault and criminal trespass. . He was awaiting arraignment.
A good Samaritan saw the alleged subway saboteur throw a metal “tie plate” onto the track and went down to retrieve it, sources said.
But the suspect picked it up and hurled it back down into the track bed as a train was pulling into the station, sources added.
The deranged man found the plate among construction materials at the station, police sources said. MTA workers have been warned not to leave items close to tracks or near where riders could get ahold of them.
Straphangers held the alleged saboteur until cops arrived.
Three people reported minor injuries. One was taken to Bellevue Hospital while the other two were evaluated at the scene, the FDNY said.
The incident caused “extensive delays” across the system, according to Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit. At least 56 trains were canceled and 28 trains delayed, the MTA’s report said.