A debate is raging on Twitter about the NY Post publishing a front page photo of a man about to be killed by a subway train in NYC. He got into some kind of altercation with a crazy man who threw him on to the tracks.

The photographer, a freelancer, says that he wasn’t strong enough to lift the man himself, so instead he started taking photos so his flash would hopefully alert the subway conductor that a man was on the tracks about to die.

There are a few issues here.

1. Did the photographer try to lift the man? Did he have time? Were others already trying to help?

2. Do you really take a photo of this kind of incident – or is the photographer telling the truth, the photo was incidental (then again, he sold the photo to the Post – should he have?).

3. Should the Post have printed the photo? It is news and newsworthy. But is it too gruesome? Here’s their front page:

The Post has a video explaining the story, below. From the story, it sounds like people tried to help. What do you think?