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Chilling NY Post Cover Sparks Outrage: ‘This Man Is About to Die’

Dec. 4, 2012 8:29pm

Chilling New York Post Cover Shows Moment Before Man Is Run Over by a Train

NEW YORK (AP) — Police questioned a suspect Tuesday in the death of a New Yorker who was pushed onto the tracks and photographed just before a train hit him – an image that drew virulent criticism after it appeared on the front page of the New York Post.

Investigators recovered security video showing a man fitting the description of the assailant working with street vendors near Rockefeller Center, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said. To watch the security video, click here.

Witnesses told investigators they saw the suspect talking to himself Monday afternoon before he approached Ki-Suck Han at the Times Square station, got into an altercation with him and pushed him into the train’s path.

Police took the man into custody Tuesday, but he hasn’t yet been charged.

Han, 58, of Queens, died shortly after being struck. Police said he tried to climb a few feet to safety but got trapped between the train and the platform’s edge.

The Post published a photo on its front page Tuesday of Han desperately looking at the train, his arms reaching up but unable to climb off the tracks in time. It was shot by freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, who was waiting to catch a train as the situation unfolded.

Abbasi said in an audio clip on the Post’s website that he used the flash on his camera to try to warn the train driver that someone was on the tracks. He said he wasn’t strong enough to lift Han.

“I wanted to help the man, but I couldn’t figure out how to help,” Abbasi said. “It all happened so fast.”

Emotional questions arose Tuesday over the published photograph of the helpless man standing before the oncoming train accompanied by the headline that read in part: “This man is about to die.”

The moral issue among professional photojournalists in such situations is “to document or to assist,” said Kenny Irby, an expert in the ethics of visual journalism at the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit journalism school.

Other media outlets chimed in on the controversy, many questioning why the photograph had been taken and published.

“I’m sorry. Somebody’s on the tracks. That’s not going to help,” said Al Roker on NBC’s “Today” show as the photo was displayed.

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien tweeted: “I think it’s terribly disturbing – imagine if that were your father or brother.” Larry King reached out to followers on Twitter to ask: “Did the (at)nypost go too far?”

The Post declined to share the photo when contacted by The Associated Press.

Subway pushes are feared but fairly unusual. Among the more high-profile cases was the January 1999 death of Kendra Webdale, who was shoved to her death by a former mental patient.

After that, the Legislature passed Kendra’s Law, which lets mental health authorities supervise patients who live outside institutions to make sure they are taking their medications and aren’t a threat to safety.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that he believed that “in this case, it appeared to be a psychiatric problem.”

The mayor said Han, “if I understand it, tried to break up a fight or something and paid for it with his life.”

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Comments (16)

  • GotMullet
    Posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:08am

    No one even tried. That is the bottom line. More effort was spent trying to capture and broadcast the moment than trying…. even if futile…. to save this man’s life. Yes… this is the crumbling of our culture. Sadly, the worst is yet to come. America has become the dregs of civilization.

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    GotMullet  
  • 702TruthSeeker
    Posted on December 5, 2012 at 4:05pm

    trains kill!!! they must be banned!! come bloomberg, get to it!

    Report this comment

    702TruthSeeker  
  • 1Corinthians13
    Posted on December 5, 2012 at 9:55am

    This is so sad. Even if the photographer was using his flash to try to warn the driver, why did the newspaper feel the need to publish the photo?

    Report this comment

    1Corinthians13  
  • Comeandtakeit
    Posted on December 5, 2012 at 9:49am

    The guy did not take just ONE picture, he took several. And there was not enough time to save this guy? New Yorkers are a bunch of P***ies. I work in NYC, thank god I don’t live there. This is Obama’s America, where there is no personal responsibility anymore, and even an incentive to be an onlooker self -absorbed bad Samaritan. His catch phrase “Forward” should be replaced with “whats in it for me?”

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    Comeandtakeit  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:59am

      Problem: he was too far (about 20 yards based on the snapshots angle) and the train was about to hit the man in 1 second in the first photo. In that 1 second he could get 4 snapshots on auto. He couldn’t possibly reach the man if he wanted, he would get to about half the distance needed to reach him, let alone lift him (2 seconds if lucky, but if unlucky, they both may end up dead). He’d need at least 4 seconds. Most people would simply freeze, not knowing what to do. That very probably includes you.

      Timeline:
      0.5 second to realize what’s happening and assess the situation (subconsciously).
      0.5 seconds making a decision (translated as he couldn’t lift the man) and act (act = professional deformation–camera lifted and starts shooting). At this time, he takes the first picture.
      0,25 second 2nd picture
      0.25 second 3rd picture
      0.25 second 4th picture
      Man is hit.

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      Twobyfour  
  • nilo
    Posted on December 5, 2012 at 7:57am

    Violence among us is exactly what certain elements want. A culture of violence is in place, and this poor man was another victim. This is a terrible tradegy. Pray for God’s help that we come to our senses in America. Think about this: The America we see now, is a godless America. “You shall know them by their fruits”, Jesus said.

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    nilo  
  • NONCENTS
    Posted on December 5, 2012 at 7:52am

    I don’t know which is more vile, – a man pushing another into the path of an oncoming train or taking his picture seconds before his death….Maybe this professional photographer for the NY Post wasnt actually strong enough to pull Mr Han off the tracks, but did he really need to catalogue the last agonizing moments of his life for his family to relive over and over again? Did he really NEED to use another man’s tragedy to further his own career like this?

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    NONCENTS  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on December 5, 2012 at 1:38pm

      It’s automatic, almost subconscious. Kind professional deformation. Pro photographers have a different mind set, they perceive the world through the lens.

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      Twobyfour  
  • Desert Dog
    Posted on December 5, 2012 at 7:39am

    I guess we can see where the priorities are these days.

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    Desert Dog  
  • R.A. Bullseye
    Posted on December 5, 2012 at 1:02am

    So no one was willing to help but there was time to take a pic. with a cell phone? OMG what has happened to America? I predicted a long time ago that one day we will see public beheadings in NY and we are not far off from that.

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    R.A. Bullseye  
  • Dougral Supports Israel
    Posted on December 4, 2012 at 11:07pm

    Much more than the photograph, what I am concerned about is what government is going to do to try to protect us against infrequent and rare occurrences like these. How many people will be watched, monitored and have their rights infringed upon in a fruitless effort to prevent something like this from happening again?

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    Dougral Supports Israel  
  • TheBurningTruth
    Posted on December 4, 2012 at 10:17pm

    Wait for it…. Time to BAN SUBWAYS! Even Bob Costas would agree that if there were NO subway trains that this man would NOT be dead today! It’s not the fault of the pusher, nooooo! It’s the fault of the TRAIN!

    Report this comment

    TheBurningTruth  

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