'There was no way I could have saved him': Photographer claims he was too far away to pull 'doomed' subway rider off train tracks



Suspect Naeem Davis, 30, admits to pushing 58-year-old Ki Suk Han onto subway tracks at 49th Street in Manhattan

Han, a father of one, killed by oncoming Q train as he tried to pull himself up from tracks



Davis was arrested one block from subway station in nearby Times Square



New York Post freelance photographer took pictures of grisly moments before Han was fatally struck

Paper has been blasted for poor taste in publishing Han's last moments



The photographer who captured the deeply controversial image of a New York City subway rider moments before he was hit and killed by a train claims there was nothing he could have done to pull the man off the tracks.



R. Umar Abbasi says he was running toward Ki Suk Han, 58, but was too far away to reach him before he was crushed between the platform and the oncoming train.



Mr Abbasi, a New York Post freelance photographer, has become the subject of intense outrage for shooting the pictures. Critics say he chose to snap the disturbing shots instead of helping Mr Han.



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Grisly death: 58-year-old Ki Suk Han was killed by a subway train after being pushed into its path in Times Square on Monday Taken in: Suspect Naeem Davis, pictured, was arrested by NYPD officers Tuesday afternoon in Times Square, blocks away from the 49th Street station But Mr Abbasi said in an interview on NBC's Today show on Wednesday that he did everything he could to help.

'If this thing happened again with the same circumstances, whether I had a camera or not, and I was running toward him, there was no way I could have rescued Mr Han,' Mr Abbasi said.

'What really surprises me were the people who were maybe 100 feet or 150 feet away from Mr Han, they did not reach out to help him.' RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Woman, 50, dies from overdose eight months after she killed... Promising high school student drowns during study abroad... Bloomberg DENIES calling Hillary Clinton and asking her to... Scorned ex-girlfriend 'ran over his MOTHER with her car'... Share this article Share Mr Abbasi repeatedly referred to the other people on the train platform, up to 18, who were closer to Mr Han and could have helped him to safety.

Mr Abbasi says he was returning from a Post assignment in Times Square and had his camera in his hand when Naeem Davis allegedly pushed Mr Han onto the tracks.

'Nothing he could do': New York Post photographer R Umar Abbasi appeared on the Today show to defend himself and claim he could not have saved Mr Han He said the only thing he could think to do was fire the flash on his camera at the driver on the oncoming 'Q' train to get his attention.

Mr Abbasi claims took the pictures as he was firing his flash and was not purposely trying to capture Mr Han's moment of death - or photograph anything at all. When Today show hosts questioned him about 'selling' his images to the Post, he recoiled at the idea.

'I would call it licensing to use it. Selling a photograph of this nature sounds morbid. I licensed these photographs,' he said. Despite Mr Abbasi's account of events, another witness who says he was on the train platform said he is outraged over the photographer's behavior.



'If this thing happened again with the same circumstances, whether I had a camera or not, and I was running toward him, there was no way I could have rescued Mr Han.' New York Post photographer R. Umar Abbasi

Patrick Gomez, who admitted that he also ‘froze’ at the scene, said it was a ‘real shame’ that no-one had the courage to ‘step up’ and attempt to rescue Ki Suk Han, 58, after he was pushed onto the line at the New York subway station yesterday afternoon. Gomez, 37, said: 'People who were on the platform could have pulled him up but they didn't have the courage. They just didn't react like that.' On Wednesday, the New York Post photographer who snapped the controversial pictures of Mr Han defended himself, saying there was nothing he could have done to save the man from death. Mr Gomez reserved his strongest criticism for photographer Mr Abbasi, who shot the chilling photograph of Mr Han watching as the subway train barreled towards him in the final moments. The image appeared on the front page of the New York Post Tuesday morning with the headline 'Doomed'. The 58-year-old can be seen looking at the train with his arms outstretched he tries to heave himself out of its path. Mr Gomez spoke for millions who expressed their outrage at the commuters on the Times Square platform who witnessed the man being pushed in front of the train but did not try to pull him to safety. Controversial: Tuesday's New York Post cover Many had moved away from an argument which was taking place between Mr Han and his suspected attacker, just moments before the fatal incident at around 12.30pm on Monday afternoon. It came as the man suspected of pushing Mr Han was arrested on Tuesday afternoon. The 30-year-old suspect who believed to havee pushed the father-of-one to his death confessed to the crime, it was revealed Tuesday. Naeem Davis, who was arrested outside of Times Square Tuesday afternoon, admitted the crime to NYPD officers, sources tol d the New York Post . Sources also said that Davis works as a street vendor and lives in Queens. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Gomez admitted that he had not helped because he had not seen the initial scuffle between Mr Han and his attacker and was confused about what was happening. Mr Gomez, a 37-year-old sanitation manager from Saddle Brook, New Jersey, said: 'I was at the north end of the platform, so about 30ft away from where he went onto the track. 'The first thing I knew something was wrong when I heard people screaming and screeching. Then the train was coming in and I heard a thud, like it was hitting something. 'I'd say the guy was on the rails for between 30 and 45 seconds trying to get up before he was hit. 'I didn't know what had happened. It could have been a terrorist attack, I just didn't know what to do and I just stood there. Before the impact I saw some people running up the stairs to where they sell Metrocards, but they were running away from the scene. Occupational hazard: Davis worked at a nearby deli, sources said

Suspect: The man who was 'emotionally disturbed' witnesses said before he pushed Mr Han into the path of an oncoming train

'The cops turned up within minutes and started evacuating people and that's when I left'.

Mr Gomez had wondered why the photographer didn't help rather than take pictures.

He said: 'I didn't see the photographer but I gather he was at the southern end of the platform taking pictures as the train was coming in. If he had enough time to take pictures, why didn't he help? It's kind of sad. He's been saying he was flashing the driver to get his attention but that's just not credible.

'He's just saying that because we're scrutinizing him'.

Mr Gomez said that it was a 'real shame' nobody had 'stepped up' to help Mr Han.

He added: 'I think it was the time of day that was a factor. It was 12.30pm and there were not a lot of people on the platform as it is a local stop. Some of them were tourists too.

Build-up: The two men were seen on CCTV arguing before the victim (left) was 'pushed' to his death

Argument: Mr Han (seen left) and Mr Davis had a heated exchange before Mr Davis pushed 'drunk' Mr Han onto the tracks

VIDEO: Argument before the man is 'pushed' to his death

'I'd say eight were elderly or were women and might not have been able to help the guy off the track. Had they done so we might have had a double tragedy. It was pandemonium, I think people just panicked'.

The photographer, Mr Abbasi, explained that he was racing towards the oncoming train firing off his flash in a desperate attempt to get the driver to slow down.

He told the New York Post: 'I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash.'

The photographer described seeing Mr Han being crushed 'like a rag doll'.



He added: 'Out of the periphery of my eye, I just saw a body flying, flying through the air. People started waving their hands, anything they could find. They were shouting to the man in the tracks, “Get out! Get out of there!”'

Not a lot of people were on the platform... I'd say eight were elderly or were women and might not have been able to help the guy off the track. Had they done so, we might have had a double tragedy. -Witness Patrick Gomez



Twitter lit up with criticism about Mr Han's horrifying death. Chris Cuomo, ABC 20/20 anchor, wrote on Twitter: 'Man pushed onto subway tracks. Some wave at train to stop, others take pics of man. No one goes to help him? What am I missing?'

ABC producer Micah Grimes added: 'HOW ABOUT HELP THE GUY OUT!?'



Nick Confessore, a political reporter for The New York Times, called Mr Hun 'the Kitty Genovese of our time' - referring to a Queens woman whose murder was witnessed by neighbors in 1964 and yet they did not call the police.

Dr Laura Kaplan, 27, a second-year resident at Beth Israel Medical Center, told how people were shouting and yelling when the tragedy happened but were running in the other direction.

After Mr Han was fatally struck by the train, she said she used her stethoscope and heard what she thought were heart sounds, but he never took a breath.

Another passenger reported seeing blood coming from Mr Han's mouth and said it had been impossible to give him CPR.

Mr Abbasi added: 'The most painful part was I could see him getting closer to the edge. He was getting so 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, "Goddamn motherf--ker."

Fatal fall: Police inside 49th Street station, where Mr Han died

'I didn’t think about [the attacker] until after. In that moment, I just wanted to warn the train — to try and save a life.'

Questions have been raised about the photographer's decision to snap pictures of the grim moment and of the newspaper's decision to splash them across the front page with the words: 'Pushed on the subway tracks this man is about to die.'

Larry King wrote: 'Did @NYPost go to far?' while others dubbed it 'gratuitous, not news' and 'sickening rubber-necking'.

Mr Han, a father-of-one , was crushed to death after being hurled onto the tracks by a crazed panhandler who had been harassing people waiting on the platform at Times Square station.

Tragedy: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, called Monday's events a 'tragedy'

There have been varying reports that there was a dispute between the men. This video, on Nbcnewyork.com , shows the alleged attacker shouting: 'Leave me the f**k alone. Take your m*********ing a** over there, stand in line, wait for the R train, that's it.' ’

The New York Post quoted 'law-enforcement sources' as saying Mr Han had been trying to calm the man down before being attacked. 'He went up and tried to calm him down, saying, ‘You’re scaring people, The emotionally disturbed guy just started screaming and cursing, saying, ‘You don’t know me! You don’t know who I am!' Police said that after being thrown onto the tracks Mr Han had barely missed being electrocuted on the third rail and looked stunned as he sat up with the train bearing down on him. He then scrambled to his feet and tried in vain to clamber back onto the platform.

One witness reported seeing him being dragged 10 to 15 feet before the train finally came to a halt.

Terror: The NYPD guard the entrance to the subway in Times Square after a 58-year-old man was pushed on to the tracks by a stranger

Mr Han, who lived with his wife and daughter in Elmhurst, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: 'He lived in this part of Queens for a couple of years. He used to take out the trash in the morning, have a smoke. He was a very nice man. It's every New Yorker's nightmare, some crazy guy on the subway.'

Another neighbor, who has lived in the area for 15 years, recalled Mr Han as a friendly man who worked hard on his home and was always ready with a 'good morning' or 'good day.'



She said: 'So many people don't want to talk to each other. I came here from Russia in '49.



'I love America this is my home but this poor man, so polite, he spoke a little English, he took his time with it. He was a good man trying to help and look at what happened. Nobody here can believe it.'



Mr Han was unemployed according to his wife, who spoke briefly to the Korean Courier.



Horror: Commuters watched aghast as a man fell onto the tracks at 49th Street and was then hit by a train

Mrs Han, who has a college-age daughter, was said to be shocked and distraught as she left the couple's red-brick, low-rise home in Queens last night. A pair of men's trainers sat discarded in the front garden.

His wife said she had argued with her husband, who had been drinking, before he left the house at around 11am and headed into Manhattan.

She said she tried calling him several times in an attempt to calm him down but he did not pick up her calls. One witness claimed Mr Han had been the aggressor and authorities reportedly found a bottle of vodka on his body afterward.

Mrs Han and her daughter have been staying with the family pastor since the trauma of identifying Mt Han's body. According to the family pastor, both women have been all but silent since receiving the devastating news, unable to articulate their grief.

They are struggling to make funeral arrangements and angered by reports that the couple argued before Mr Han lefty the family home for the final time, saying this has been misreported.



Fear: The commuter who died did not appear to know the man who pushed him into the path of an oncoming train

The attacker, who is described as black, 30 to 40 years old, about 5-foot-9, with short dreadlocks and wearing a white T-shirt, dark jacket, filthy jeans, black sneakers with a white stripe and a black beanie cap, collected his paper cup full of change before running out of the station’s exit on 47th Street.

The fire department said that two people who witnessed the man's gruesome death had to be treated for trauma.

The station is located just off 7th Avenue in midtown and has four tracks and two platforms.



The train’s operator was taken from the station in a wheelchair, wearing an oxygen mask and was treated for shock.



Today show interview with New York Post photographer R. Umar Abbasi

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