New York Post Features Photograph of Man as He is Hit by Train

There is nothing tasteful about the New York Post’s cover story that reads “Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die: Doomed.” The very words seem comical compared to the fact that a panhandler had pushed a man to his death, and the cameraman, a freelance photographer, happened to be there to snap a shot.

The photographer, R. Umar Abbasi, claims to have tried to save the man’s life by flashing his camera to get the engineer’s attention. That he happened to position himself to get a snap at the man, Ki Suk Han’s last moment alive is heartless.

The back-story is that Ki Suk Han had gotten in a fight with his wife, and left their Queens apartment a little bit drunk. At the subway, he was stopping the belligerent panhandler from harassing fellow passengers, when the panhandler turned on him and shoved him onto the tracks.

“The most painful part was I could see him getting closer to the edge,” said Abbasi. “He was getting close. And people were running toward him and the train.

“As I was running toward the train, the man I believe pushed him ran the other way, and I heard him say ‘Goddam motherf—er.’”

“I didn’t think about [the panhandler] until after. In that moment, I just wanted to warn the train – to try and save his life.”

Though there happened to be a doctor on the scene, she was unable to revive the much damaged Han.