The train operator and conductor were removed from service under standard procedure as investigators reviewed Monday’s death at Utica Avenue.
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspected an A train and temporarily removed its operator and conductor from service after a Brooklyn passenger was fatally dragged when his shopping bag became caught in the train’s doors, officials said.
The operational review is unfolding alongside a police investigation into the Sept. 28 death of Yaw Boahene, 57, at the Utica Avenue station in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Boahene was getting off the train during the evening rush when a shopping bag became trapped in the closing doors, according to police. He was dragged as the train departed and was pronounced dead at the station.
The MTA said the train operator and conductor were taken out of service under standard procedure following the fatal incident. The agency also inspected the train involved and found no mechanical problems, according to information released after the accident. The train was a newer model and had previously undergone an inspection in July.
The findings do not by themselves establish why the train was able to leave the station with the bag caught in the doors. Investigators are examining the sequence of events, including what the train crew could see and whether the thin plastic bag would have been detected by the door system. Authorities had not announced a final conclusion on those questions as of Wednesday.
A law enforcement source said video appears to show Boahene carrying a cane and a thin plastic shopping bag as he left the train. The doors closed on the bag, and Boahene appeared to remain connected to it as the train began moving. Investigators are considering whether he continued gripping the bag or whether it had become caught around his wrist.
The same source said Boahene was dragged along the platform and struck a wall near the platform’s end before falling onto the roadbed. That account differs from earlier police information that indicated the departing train struck or ran over him. The medical examiner had not issued a publicly reported final cause of death, and investigators were still working to reconcile the circumstances.
The accident has placed renewed focus on the safeguards intended to prevent trains from leaving when a rider or an object is caught in a door. Authorities have not said that a mechanical failure occurred in Boahene’s case, and the post-incident inspection found no fault with the train. Whether the bag’s size or material affected detection remains among the issues under review.
Fatal dragging incidents are uncommon but have occurred before in New York’s subway system. In 2022, a 20-year-old commuter died after his clothing or backpack became caught in a train door at the Columbus Circle station in Manhattan. The earlier case also involved a rider becoming trapped as a train departed.
Police said they do not suspect criminality in Boahene’s death. The NYPD is continuing its investigation, while the medical examiner will determine the official cause of death and the transit agency’s review will address the train and crew response surrounding the departure from Utica Avenue.
Author note: Last updated September 30, 2026.