Pedestrian Death at Hartsdale Train Station Causes Widespread Delays on Metro North

(Updated 11/13 at 11:20 am) A fatality on the train tracks at the Hartsdale Train Station around 7:55 am this morning (Tuesday 11/12) paralyzed service during the morning commute. A southbound train hit a man on the tracks near the parking lot that runs along the Pipeline, just south of the station. The victim was identified as Bradley Ewing, age 43 of Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. According to the Westchester County Medical Examiner the manner of death was suicide and Ewing died from "blunt force trauma of the body with multiple skeletal fractures, laceration of organs and hemorhhages" after he jumped in front of the moving train. A commenter on Scarsdale10583 indicated that Ewing was an ER nurse. (see below) Ewing may have recently been living in Hartsdale. It was snowing heavily at the time of the accident and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ewing was killed by a southbound train that left the Southeast station at 6:49 am and was scheduled to arrive at Grand Central at 8:24 am. Thousands of commuters were stranded for hours inside that train as well as on other trains headed north and south on the Harlem line as officials investigated the incident and cleared the tracks. Power to the third rail had to be shut off to both the north and southbound tracks.

According to an 11:00 am report from Marjorie Anders at the MTA, people who were on the train that struck the "trespasser," as the MTA called him, were stuck on the train for hours. The medical examiner did not arrive until 9:55 am and the train that hit the victim was held until his arrival. The examiner has not released a report as of yet.

Anders said, "People aboard the incident train had to wait from 7:55 am when the incident occurred until 10:25 a.m. when a transfer was complete. An empty train was brought along side and the people were escorted across a metal plank from one train to the other. Four crewmembers were in the doorways to guide and assist passengers across in single file. No other trains were moving while this evacuation was underway."

Here's what happened to people on other trains at the time of the incident:

• Two southbound trains were annulled at North White Plains and two southbound trains were held at White Plains. They are now on the move 90 minutes late.
• Three northbound trains (reverse peak) were annulled at Crestwood and turned south again because they couldn't get through.
• Two more never left Grand Central and other trains also were delayed.

The area was deluged with police and emergency vehicles and siren could be heard for miles. After the initial investigation, MTA Police allowed power to be restored to a single track and some service resumed at 8:40 with significant residual delays.

A Scarsdale resident who was stuck on the train for an hour today said, "It made for a lousy commute - I was delayed 1 hour in White Plains. Metro North kept us informed and did their best. Just a sad situation..."