Rider lessons from a subway murder

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.

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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.