WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. SPECIAL TO WPCNR FROM M.ANDERS, METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY POLICE COMMUNICATIONS September 25, 2013 UPDATED 6:28 P.M.E.D.T. UPDATED 6:30 A.M., September 26, 2013:
The Journal News reported overnight that a Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman has identified the alleged suspect in the pushing of a young woman in front of a train at White Plains Wednesday morning.
He is Howard J. Mickens of White Plains, a resident of a White Plains homeless shelter and he has been charged with Attempted Murder. The News reported MTA spokesman Salvatore Anders as describing Mickens as having been arrested 11 times, and 5 of the arrests were for alleged violent felonies.
The victim, the spokesperson said, was hospitalized with serious leg trauma.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police issued WPCNR this description of the 11 AM incident at the White Plains Train Station when a man identified as Milkens pushed (witnesses said “he picked up and threw”) the woman in front of a train:
“At 11:05 a.m., a 21-year-old White Plains woman was standing on the (island) platform at the White Plains train station. According to multiple witnesses, she was pushed to the tracks and struck by an empty, (not in service) northbound train.
Two witnesses chased the man (identified this morning as Mickens) and he was quickly arrested by MTA Police at the station. (THE WITNESSES HAVE NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED, ACCORDING TO M. ANDERS AS OF 6:30 P.M.)
The woman (victim), a Hunter College student on her way into Manhattan, was taken alive to Westchester Medical Center.
Before the ambulance arrived, an MTA Police officer climbed down to the tracks to assist the woman and calm her down. She was conscious and talking to police.
Harlem Line train service was disrupted for about an hour. Four trains were affected, two northbound and two southbound.
Because of the incident and because of track work in the Scarsdale/Hartsdale area, two northbound trains were terminated at Crestwood, the 10:25 a.m. local out of Grand Central and the 10:55 a.m. local out of Grand Central. The train that was terminated at Crestwood was turned and provided southbound service out of Crestwood.
Two southbound trains also were held at North White Plains, the 10:38 out of Southeast. 10:13 out of Southeast .
Normal Harlem Line service resumed at noon.”
Asked about MTA police presence at Westchester stations. Ms. Anders wrote in a statement, “We had officers at the station because of the bus diversion from the New Haven line . We patrol all stations, but do not have fixed posts at each of our 121 stations. MTAPD has about 650 officers to cover 5,000 square miles.”
The man identified as the suspect who threw the victim upon the northbound tracks, was reported by a vendor at the station as a regular loiterer around the elevated Metro North train station in White Plains.
White Plains Commissioner of Public Safety David Chong issued this statement to WPCNR:
“This investigation and case is being handled by the MTA Police as it is their
jurisdiction. The woman appears to have survived the incident although she has
some serious injuries. The suspect is in custody and will be processed and
charged by the MTA Police. We assisted the MTA Police in the rescue of the
woman and the apprehension of the suspect.”
