Yaw Boahene, 57, was exiting an A train in Brooklyn when his shopping bag became trapped as the doors closed, police said.
NEW YORK CITY, NY — A 57-year-old man died after a shopping bag he was carrying became caught in the doors of a New York City subway train, dragging him as the train left a Brooklyn station during the Monday evening rush hour, police said.
Police identified the man as Yaw Boahene, a Brooklyn resident. He was exiting an A train at the Utica Avenue station in Bedford-Stuyvesant around 6 p.m. when the bag became trapped in the closing doors, according to police. Emergency responders found Boahene unconscious and unresponsive on the roadbed and pronounced him dead at the scene. Authorities said the circumstances of his death remain under investigation.
Accounts released Tuesday agreed that Boahene was leaving the train when the doors closed on a shopping bag he was carrying. Police said he was dragged as the train departed the station and ended up on the tracks. Early reports differed on some details of the incident, including whether the bag was a backpack or shopping bag and precisely how Boahene reached the roadbed. Police later described the item as a shopping bag.
The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner will determine Boahene’s official cause of death. Police said no criminality was believed to be involved, but investigators continued examining how the fatal incident happened and what occurred as the train departed the platform.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the train operator and conductor were removed from service while the investigation continues, a routine step after a serious incident. The agency said the train involved was one of the subway system’s newer models. The train was inspected after Boahene’s death and had also been inspected in July, with no mechanical problems found, according to the MTA.
Investigators are examining the sequence of events surrounding the closing doors and the train’s departure. Questions include how the bag became trapped and whether the train’s systems registered the doors as closed before it began moving. Authorities had not publicly announced a final finding on those questions as of Tuesday.
Witness accounts described confusion on the platform as the train pulled away. Some riders reported hearing people shouting after Boahene became caught. Police and transit officials have not released surveillance video of the incident, and some details reported by witnesses and unnamed law enforcement sources have not been independently confirmed.
The death follows other rare incidents in which New York City subway riders have been caught in train doors. In October 2022, a 20-year-old commuter died after his clothing or backpack became caught in the doors of a No. 1 train at the Columbus Circle station in Manhattan. The earlier case also occurred during rush hour.
A trains were reported to be operating normally at the Utica Avenue station Tuesday. Police continued investigating Boahene’s death, while the medical examiner had not yet announced an official cause of death. Transit officials had not released a final determination about what caused the train to depart with the bag caught in its doors.
Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.