Home View from Underground Rider lessons from a subway murder

Rider lessons from a subway murder

by Benjamin Kabak

On early Saturday morning, for just the second reported time this year, a man was murdered on New York City Transit property. Although the details remain vague, a 37-year-old Bronx man named Gerardo Sanchez was arrested for the murder. I don’t want to be put too much stock into just the second incident this year, but we can see a few lessons for riders in this rather senseless death.

Yesterday evening, the Village Voice’s Runnin’ Scared blog summed up the various accounts of the murder:

According to the either dozen, two dozen, or nearly thirty other passengers in the car, Sanchez asked another passenger, Dwight Johnson, 36, to move his bags to free up a seat. Johnson refused, a decision the News calls “understandable” (the News went with both “a half-filled car” and a “nearly empty car”).

Sanchez, who per the Post is either “hulking” or a slightly-built 5’6,” argued with Johnson, at least six inches taller, until Johnson punched him in the face. At that point Sanchez pulled a steak knife and stabbed Johnson repeatedly in the hands and neck.

A passenger pulled the emergency cord and notified the conductor, who contacted police. He was told to seal the car, with a number of other passengers trapped inside, until police arrived at the…station five minutes later. Sanchez managed to slip the knife out of the train door, but it was retrieved from the tracks later.

Runnin’ Scared reported that the police arrived at Rockefeller Center to make the arrest while pictures showed Sanchez removed from the subway at 59th St./Columbus Circle. Other reports had the police at the 7th Ave. stop. Still, the crime happened in the blink of an eye between Rockefeller Center and 7th Ave.

Lesson #1: Do not place bags on the seat next to you

Although the <em>Daily News said that “no right-minded person” would demand a fellow passenger to remove a bag from a seat and that Johnson “understandably” declined, the reality is that Johnson was violating New York City Transit regulations. Section 1050.7 (j) of the Transit rules says that a person may not occupy more than one seat “when to do so would interfere or tend to interfere with the operation of the Authority’s transit system or the comfort of other passengers.”

Lesson #2: If someone asks, just comply

It’s often tempting — especially in half-full trains — to spread out and take it easy. Yet, we never know much about other riders. When someone asks to sit down, the best response is to simply remove your bags from the empty seat and allow them to sit down. If you get a vibe from the other passenger that perhaps you don’t want to be sitting next to them, get up and move. I know this approach seems to run counter to our normal sense of personal space and etiquette, but it falls under the “safe than sorry” category.

Lesson #3: Don’t pick fights with homeless riders

According to some reports, Mr. Johnson may have been a homeless rider on the subway. If so, this makes Mr. Sanchez’s decision to start this fight even more perplexing. One of my rules of the rails is to avoid any sort of confrontation with indigent riders. Nothing good can come of it, and I’ve seen far too many fights between homeless riders and other straphangers or amongst groups of homeless riders who feel others are invading their turf.

Lesson #4: Is there a collective action problem?

This one isn’t so much a lesson as it is a thought piece. A few people noted in the comments on Saturday’s short post about this incident that the other riders in the car should have come to Mr. Johnson’s defense. I err on the side of avoiding confrontations on the rails, especially those that involve knives. I can understand other people’s attempting to separate two men fighting, but this incident spiraled out of control in the two minutes it takes a train to go from Rockefeller Center to 7th Ave. Should we really expect passengers to step in? I don’t think so.

Lesson #5: Alert the driver or conductor

Late at night, it’s far safer to ride in either the front car or the middle car of the train. That way, the conductor or driver will be around in case of an emergency. Although the driver did not see the incident — probably because the new wider drivers booths often have blacked out front windows — he responded quickly once alerted to the emergency by another passenger. These workers will respond in case of a problem but often need to be told of the problem.

* * *

In the end, I am generalization from something that happens approximately twice every 1.5 billion underground trips. It can by psychologically crippling to walk around underground fearing a murder, but we can be smarter passengers for it when one happens.

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18 comments

Scott E November 23, 2009 - 8:41 am

Good wrap-up, Ben … though I think there may be some bad HTML obscuring some text before and after the Lesson #1 heading. But I digress (not to be picky)…

The Village Voice article says that other passengers pulled the emergency cord (brake). Other articles say they used the passenger intercom (which is only on the R-160. It also keeps the doors between cars unlocked so other passengers could have fled).

About a year ago, an office-mate of mine had an argument over whether or not you pull the brake if a violent crime occurs in the car. He says yes — do anything — to get the operator’s/conductor’s attention and let him know something is wrong. The sudden stop might also make the criminal fall or drop his weapon so he can be restrained. I said absolutely not — let the train stop in the station, then get out and run. If the train is stopped somewhere in the middle of the tunnel, there’s no telling what might happen or when someone might respond. We never reached an agreement. I know the MTA’s rules, but if there is no intercom, what would most people do?

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Dan November 23, 2009 - 9:02 am

Yeah, I am on the fence too. If someone has a weapon, has shown that he’s going to use it, and you *intentionally trap yourself with that person*…. that can’t be a good strategy.

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Mike HC November 23, 2009 - 9:51 am

I’m with you. Get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Don’t be a hero.

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Joe November 23, 2009 - 2:22 pm

Scott- I would agree with you about pulling the brake. It’s my understanding that every time the emergency brake is pulled, the brakes either have to be reset or the motorman (or is it conductor?) must walk the length of the train to check for what happened, which also takes a lot of time. If I were in the car, I would have tried to avoid it (hello! knife involved!) but I would have also yelled at my fellow passengers not to pull the emergency brake!! What good does it do you to be locked in a car with a killer?

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AlexB November 23, 2009 - 8:54 am

Lesson #6: Don’t murder or stab anyone.

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Dan November 23, 2009 - 9:00 am

Re: collective action problem:

I’ve only one subway fight in my time here, and it was during the AM rush hour on a packed downtown 6. No weapons were involved and the crowd around the two female pugilists quickly created a radius while simultaneously trying to break up the fight. (Given the context — a racial slur from the previously justified party — I’m a bit surprised that it didn’t erupt into a melee.) The fight occurred at the front end of the car, so only about a third of the riders had any idea what was happening. I was close enough to hear the context but not able to do anything about it other than yell for help, which I didn’t. Someone on the opposite end of the car, hearing the huge collective noise coming from the fight’s side. But in any event: Lots of people acted.

In the murder situation:
1) It’s 2AM. If you’re on the train, you’re probably tired, drunk etc., or two+ of the above.
2) The guy who threw the punch — that is, the murder *victim* here — is the first person you, as a bystander, would have been subduing. Think about the timeline. One guy starts an argument; the other guy throws a punch. If you’re going to step in, that’s when.
3) And if you wait, remember: the argument-starting guy has a knife. You don’t. And he’s using it to massacre the first guy. Good luck there.

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Mike HC November 23, 2009 - 9:48 am

Crazy story. I liked your analysis too.

I think the bottom line is that things like this are unavoidable and can happen anywhere when you get a homeless guy with nothing to lose and a homicidal maniac who has a knife ready to go at all times. Just one of those things.

Moral of story, don’t punch people in the face no matter how annoying they are.

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petey November 23, 2009 - 10:33 am

good piece.

1: if the car really did have empty places, asking the guy to move his bags seems a deliberate provocation.
1a: if the guy with the bags was visibly homeless, and conforms to stereotype (viz. was hummin’), why would you want to sit next to him?

sanchez does sound deranged, stabbing johnson “repeatedly”.

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Josh November 23, 2009 - 11:52 am

Don’t pick fights with anyone, really. It’s just not worth it.

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Sammy Finkelman November 23, 2009 - 12:01 pm

The New York Post reports today (Monday) that the murdered passenger , Dwight Johnson, 36, did in fact remove his bag without a word, and it doesn’t say he fought but says that Gerardo Sanchez, the 57-year exterminator who satbbed him to death, erupted at him inexiplicably saying “You think I’m scared of you? I’m not sacred of you1” and lunged at him with a knife, stabbing him in the carotid artery, killing him instantly, or instantly enouygh so that he stayed in his seat. There was also a stab wound in his hands, which would probably be defensive wounds. But the Daily News says that Johnson moved te bag only “eventually” and he was moving away when Johnson stabbed him (no punch eiher) The Daily News says Johnson was well known to others for placing a bag next to himself in order to prevent anyone from sitting next to him. The Daily News says the killer, Sanchez was 37, not 57. Theh Daily News found somebody else who got into a dispute with Johnson – that time over a bag on a park bench. He says tyhey argued and he pushed him because he didn’t want him sitting next to him. Possible reasons include “mental illness” or fear of germs. Johnson has a brother called Amos, who was qwuoted by the New York Post.

After the bloody murder, Sanchez, according to the Daily News, pried open a subway door of the stopped train dropped the knife on the tracks. this might indicate that stopping the train causes the violent man to realize the police will get there and try to disguise what he dd rather than commit more mayhenm. But this may not be a general 100% rule. It could be though it may actually halt things. dropping the kmnife outside did not prevent his arrest nor the prevent the police from finding it. It is not clear what messages the motorman may have gven theh passengers, but he kept the doors closed at the request of police. Sanchez’s brother says he fell two floors two weeks ago and was taking pain med taking some form of pain medication. I didn’t know they treated pain with LSD.

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Benjamin Kabak November 23, 2009 - 12:05 pm

I’ve been reading through these reports this morning, and I’m going to update the facts of this case later on. The more I read about it, the less I think about the collective action problem. This was a conflict between two not-well people that got very out of hand very quickly.

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Ferry Service Considered for Coney Island - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com November 23, 2009 - 12:49 pm

[…] tips to avoid confrontations on the subway in light of the fatal stabbing of Dwight Johnson on a D train early Saturday morning. [2nd Avenue […]

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More details emerge on Saturday subway slaying :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog November 23, 2009 - 4:15 pm

[…] today, I offered up my take on what we can learn from Saturday’s senseless subway killing. As the day has worn on, more details about both men […]

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Transit Boy November 23, 2009 - 5:09 pm

DO NOT PULL THE CORD!!!!

There is a man with a knife wound in the car who needs medical attention IMMEDIATELY, what the hell good is it stopping the car for a couple of minutes between stations where no Police, EMS, Transit Worker, or Good Samaritan with medical training can reach him?

This is the same thing as asking if its good for the sick person if you intentionally run an ambulance off the road.

IF SOMEONE IS ATTACKED –

Get out at the next station and run to the conductors position calling for help, block a door if he doesn’t see you at first.

DO NOT leave a dying man hundreds of feet away from help. The friend who argued to pull the cord is dead wrong

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Alon Levy November 24, 2009 - 3:25 pm

More rules:

#6: victim blaming is the new black.

#7: reading the fishwrappers reduces knowledge.

#8: subway bloggers would use any opportunity up to and including murder to talk about subway etiquette.

#9: it’s a good thing Al Qaida hijacked United 93 instead of a subway train. Subway riders would never have tried to subdue the hijackers.

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Benjamin Kabak November 24, 2009 - 3:29 pm

What’s with the nasty sarcasm? It’s very Peter Knox of you.

Considering that this incident happened and was over in the span of 10 seconds, I — and others around here — would like to hear how you think other passengers should have prevented this attack. You’ve mentioned it a few times and have no answer other than to say that passenger action just should have happened.

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Alon Levy November 24, 2009 - 11:02 pm

The sarcasm comes from the victim blaming. When someone gets murdered, “Take your bags off” is almost the most insensitive response.

And there were 20-30 passengers on that car – and, presumably, Sanchez turned toward Johnson and away from them.

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A Sunday-morning stabbing on the 2 train :: Second Ave. Sagas March 29, 2010 - 4:39 pm

[…] bags from a seat for another rider, and that other rider killed his co-straphanger over a seat. The lessons I offered up in November served as a reminder to be wary of those around you on the train. Most New Yorkers are calm and […]

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