Subway Train Kills Queens Woman Picking Up CellphoneBy THOMAS J. LUECK
Published: February 11, 2004
19-year-old woman whose cellphone dropped onto the tracks in a Queens subway station was killed yesterday when she climbed down from the platform to retrieve the phone and was crushed by an oncoming train.
The police said Lina Villegas of 54-23 83rd Street in Elmhurst, Queens, was struck by a Manhattan-bound V train in the Grand Avenue-Newtown Station in Elmhurst. She was declared dead on the scene shortly after she was struck about 2 p.m.
Transit officials said the death underscored the dangers of going onto the tracks to retrieve objects. It could not be determined last night whether the woman saw the oncoming train or tried to flee. "While the instinct may be very strong to climb down when you drop something on the track, obviously don't do it,'' said Deirdre Parker, a spokeswoman for New York City Transit.
She said the accident at the Grand Avenue station was the first case the transit agency knew of where someone was injured retrieving a cellphone on the tracks.
