December 5 (RIA Novosti) - New York city police questioned a homeless man Wednesday in connection with the death of a subway rider pushed onto the tracks in the path of an oncoming train in an incident caught in a photograph published on the front page of a major New York daily paper.
“He’s being questioned now,” a police spokesman told RIA Novosti. He said no charges had been filed against the man and declined to confirm media reports that the man – identified by the New York Post as Naeem Davis – had implicated himself in the incident.
The incident on Monday sparked an uproar in the United States and triggered debate on several fronts including urban violence, homelessness and media ethics, with the Post criticized for publishing the photo of the victim seconds before he died and the photographer blasted for not trying to rescue him.
The Post on Wednesday quoted an unnamed source as saying that Davis, the homeless man being questioned in the case, “said the victim was harassing him and that he pushed him onto the tracks.”
Another source told the Post that Davis “stayed and watched” as the train struck 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han.
Surveillance video indicates the two men may have been arguing.
Davis was taken into custody on Tuesday, just a block from the subway station where the incident occurred. He had reportedly shaved his dreadlocks and beard from the day before.
“I don’t think this is a crazy man throwing people under the train,” a law enforcement official told The New York Times. “There is interaction between the two of them.”
Meanwhile, the freelance photographer who snapped a photo of Han just moments before the train struck him said public outrage over his photo has been unfair.
“I can’t let the armchair critics bother me. They were not there. They have no idea how very quickly it happened,” Umar Abbasi wrote in the Post.
When he saw someone on the track, he said, he was too far away to help but hoped the flash of his camera would warn the conductor to slow down.
“I just started running. I had my camera up — it wasn’t even set to the right settings — and I just kept shooting and flashing, hoping the train driver would see something and be able to stop,” he wrote.
But the incident has outraged many people in New York, where more than four million people ride the subway system every day.
“Somebody’s taking that picture. Why aren’t they helping this guy up?” said television weatherman Al Roker on NBC’s “Today Show.”
“Wow! Enough time to take a few pictures. Why didn't the person help? …I am appalled,” wrote one commenter on the Post’s website.
Others took aim at the newspaper for publishing the photo.
“Someone needs to be fired for this @Nypost cover. It's classless, cruel and completely void of all integrity. You should be ashamed,” said on Twitter.
“Disgusted by front page headline of New York Post. Treating the tragic death of a man like a poster for an action movie. I feel sick,” said another.
