THE NEW YORK Post has been criticised for publishing a photo on the front page of its paper yesterday of a man seconds from death.
Ki-Suck Han of Queens was pushed onto the tracks of an incoming subway by a man at Times Square Station.
Instead of helping him to safety, freelance photojournalist R. Umar Abbasi has been criticised of taking images of Han sitting on the tracks and then trying to climb back onto the platform.
The 58-year-old was then hit by the train as he got trapped between it and the platform’s edge. He died shortly after.
Han sitting on the tracks. This is not the image that caused the controversy. (NYPost/YouTube)
Abbasi, who was waiting to catch a train as the situation unfolded, explains in an interview with the New York Post today why he took pictures of the man instead of helping him:
I just kept shooting and flashing, hoping the train driver would see something and be able to stop. I’m not even sure it was registering with me what was happening.It all went so quickly; from the time I heard the shouting until the time the train hit the man was about 22 seconds.
At the same time, the perp was running toward me. I was afraid he might push me onto the tracks.
New York City Police detectives are questioning a 30-year-old man in relation to the incident.
Abbasi recalls the moment leading up to the incident in this video posted by the New York Post:
(NYPost/YouTube)
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