A man who was pushed into the path of an oncoming subway train in New York City recounted his harrowing tale in a new interview after he narrowly escaped death.
Joseph Lynskey, 45, was standing on the platform of the 18th Street subway station in Manhattan, waiting for a train to take him to Brooklyn on the afternoon of Dec. 31. He had just had a celebratory lunch with friends and was headed home to get ready for a New Year’s Eve party, he told Good Morning America’s Eva Pilgrim.
Lynskey then found himself in midair above the tracks. He saw the lights of an oncoming subway train as his life flashed before his eyes.
“I just thought, ‘I’ve been pushed, and I’m going to die,’” he told GMA. “It happened in a flash when I was midair. I knew that I had been pushed.”
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His head, and then his body, crashed into the ground between the tracks. While he had miraculously survived the surprise shove, he knew that he was not out of danger.
“So there’s a third rail that runs along the entirety of the MTA system,” Lynskey said. “It’s the electrified rail. If you touch it at all, you will die immediately. You cannot move. Don’t kick your feet. Don’t struggle. You will get electrocuted. You will die.”
Four minutes later, Lynskey heard the welcome signs of approaching sirens, saying: “I closed my eyes because then I guess I felt kind of safe that help had arrived.”
Lynskey was gingerly removed from the tracks by the Fire Department of New York and rushed to Bellevue Hospital. He suffered from a fractured skull, four broken ribs and a ruptured spleen.
“I can’t thank all of them enough, and especially John and Jonathan for getting me out from underneath that one train,” he said.
He told Good Morning America that he immediately asked about his beloved dog, Leo.
“He’s 16. He’s a dachshund. He’s a rescue. So I looked at the firefighters and I said, ‘I know I’m really, really hurt. I’m hurt really bad, but you need to help me get to my dog.’”
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He was in the intensive care unit for five days.
“The nursing staff there and the care team there were amazing,” he said. “Truly amazing.”
The New Yorker shared that his brush with death taught him that life is short.
“It’s a powerful reminder that this can all be taken away from you at any moment, and you have to keep going. Life is too short,” he shared. “And I’m going to keep going.”
Less than an hour after the attack, a suspect was in custody. He was identified as Kamel Hawkins, 23, of Brooklyn. Hawkins, according to the New York Police Department, has nine prior arrests.
“I’m choosing not to focus on the anger or resentment or negativity,” Lynskey said. “He’s 23. I don’t know much about him. I’m focusing on healing, recovering, getting myself back to my life.”
He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder, assault and attempted assault, police said.
