Train service on the 4 subway line heading downtown came to a halt this morning after a man killed himself as he jumped to the tracks and to an oncoming train while attempting to take his five-year-old daughter with him, according to eye witnesses. Authorities deemed it a suicide.
The scene unfolded at around 8 a.m. on Monday when the five-year-old and her father. identified as 45-year-old Fernando Balbuena-Flores, were on the platform. Minutes later, after getting off his cell phone, he jumps to the tracks, taking his daughter with him as a train pulls into the station. The man is hit while his daughter gets pinned underneath. As the subway comes to a halt, bystanders jumped to the tracks, pulling her out. Miraculously, the little girl is able to walk virtually unscathed. She was taken to Jacobi Medical Center to be treated for minor injuries. The two bystanders that pulled her up were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where they were treated for minor injuries and released.
Emergency responders declared the victim dead at the scene.
The news caught the attention of Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose Council district covers Kingsbridge, who tied today’s suicide with high rates of suicide. “Today’s incident and many others pinpoint the need for a dramatic increase in the availability of mental health treatment. Accompanying any increase in treatment, society must also eliminate the stigma, which is often associated with mental illness,” said Cabrera in a statement.
It’s unclear why he jumped.
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—-Accompanying any increase in treatment, society must also eliminate the stigma, which is often associated with mental illness,ā said Cabrera
Until we end the association, it will continue to do harm. A tragedy was avoided for the child who survived. Very often that is not the result. That prejudice takes lives.