NYC shoving victim saved from incoming subway train by just one minute

Kerry Burke, Ellen Moynihan, Elizabeth Keogh, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read
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A man recently shoved to the tracks in a NYC subway station cleared the roadbed just a minute before the train pulled in, court records show.

David Martin, 32, was standing on a Manhattan-bound L train platform at the Myrtle-Wyckoff station at the border of Brooklyn and Queens around 2:45 p.m. Friday when Lamale McRae, 41, charged at him, officials said.

Martin tumbled to the tracks as McRae took off on foot, according to police.

Good Samaritans quickly pulled him off the tracks just 60 seconds before a train entered the station, according to a criminal complaint filed early Tuesday in Queens Criminal Court.

The next train to Manhattan had been scheduled to arrive at 2:46 p.m.

As the pusher fled the station, he shoved to the ground an 8-year-old boy who cut his knee as he fell.

Martin broke his collarbone, sprained his shoulder and suffered bruising and swelling in the attack, court records show.

McRae was arrested Monday and charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and harassment in the caught-on-camera attack.

“I don’t know what the hell happened there,” the man’s cousin said of the terrifying incident. “That surprised the hell out of me.”

McRae has 20 prior arrests — and severe mental health issues, said the relative, who did not want to be named.

“They kept sending him to the hospital, but they kept letting him go. He’d stay a week and they’d let him go. He’s ill. He’s not a criminal — he’s ill. He started spiraling when his mother passed away a couple years ago.”

McRae eventually refused help.

“It’s good that he’s locked up because now he can get the help he needs,” the cousin said.

McRae previously lived with the relative, who was forced to kick him out due to his erratic behavior.

“I got to a point where I couldn’t keep him anymore because he was so hostile,” she said. “He cursed me out all the time. I started letting him come home to take a shower, but even that was too much.”

She believes he has since been living on the street.

Following an arraignment in Queens Criminal Court, a judge ordered he undergo a psychological evaluation.