An MTA worker on duty was fatally struck by a subway train in Manhattan on Wednesday morning.
Hilarion Joseph, 57, alerted MTA train operators that there were workers on nearby tracks before authorities responded to the call around 12:20 a.m., the New York Police Department said in a statement to PEOPLE. First responders were notified that Joseph had made contact with a northbound D train near the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station.
Joseph was then transported by emergency medical personnel to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The MTA then halted all non-essential track work for 24 hours. Officials with the NYPD and the Transportation Workers Union Local 100 said the investigation into Joseph’s death is ongoing.
“He was pretty new,” said the victim’s oldest son, 24-year-old Japeri Smith New York Daily News. “He loved work. He wanted to make a career there.”
“He was a great person, a veteran,” Smith continued. “He was from Trinidad. He was a father, an uncle, someone everyone loved.”
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Joseph, an MTA flagger, was performing routine cleaning of the subway tracks, Richard Davis, president of the Transportation Workers Union Local 100, said during an MTA news conference.
“He was the first employee closer to that train,” Davis said. “So we don’t know if there was insufficient free space or if he stumbled. But clearly the flag should not – under any circumstances – come into contact with the train.”
Demetrius Crichlow, New York City Transit’s senior vice president for subways, said they are “committed to safety,” adding, “We go through all the rules about track safety, how to protect yourself, how to step outside the marking zone, how to protect not just yourself but also his associates.”
“This is something we constantly preach and have a pretty good safety record. So we just want to make sure that all employees are safe at this point and recognize this moment,” Crichlow added.
Image of a New York subway train. Getty
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“We lost a member of the MTA family last night. Track worker at 34 St – Herald Sq, work going on, scheduled work, and a colleague was behind schedule and still under investigation as to what went wrong,” MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said during the Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday morning.
“Our people were at the hospital last night with the worker’s family and obviously they are in our thoughts right now,” Lieber continued. “Difficult morning, especially for those who are close to our colleagues.”
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Source: HIS Education