Man, 65, Dies After Teenager Punches Him, Knocking Him Onto Subway Tracks

NEW YORK — A 65-year-old man died Wednesday afternoon after a teenager who had been ranting incoherently punched him on a subway platform in Brooklyn, knocking him onto the tracks, the police said.

A witness flagged down a police officer at the station, Jay Street-Metro Tech in downtown Brooklyn, while bystanders jumped down and pulled the man off the tracks, the police said. The man, Jacinto Suarez, did not come in contact with the electrified third rail and was not struck by a train. Suarez, who lived on Staten Island, later died at Brooklyn Hospital Center.

The teenager, 18, stayed in the subway station after the attack, and detectives were interviewing him at a precinct station house Wednesday night. Charges were pending, the authorities said, and his name had not been released.

The police said that Suarez was waiting for an R train around 2:30 p.m. when the teenager came up to him. The younger man was ranting and Suarez extended his arm to keep him away, witnesses told the police. The teenager walked away, they said, but then returned and punched the man.

The police were looking into whether the Suarez struck his head in the fall, and they were waiting for the medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of death.