Overview
- Video and an incident report show a man and woman sitting on the tracks at Spring Street station as a southbound No. 4 train entered the platform and the operator activated the emergency brake but could not stop in time.
- Law-enforcement sources and multiple news outlets identified the victims as 24-year-old Malaika Chitre and 24-year-old Navam Kaul who were longtime friends and recent Rutgers University graduates.
- Authorities are examining whether one person fell or was on the track first and whether the other went down to help, with detectives also probing possible intoxication and not ruling out suicide while noting that no note was found.
- Emergency responders pronounced both dead at the scene and roughly 100 passengers were evacuated from the train after the collision.
- The deaths, which occurred early Sunday, have renewed public and official focus on subway safety and have prompted discussion of measures such as platform protections and improved monitoring as investigators continue to collect toxicology results and the medical examiner’s findings.