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57-Year-Old Good Samaritan Pushed Onto Tracks, Killed After Trying To Intervene In Argument At Harlem Subway Station

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A Good Samaritan was killed Friday while trying to help two girls on a Harlem subway platform.

Police said Dwayne Brown, 57, stepped in to help two young girls who were being yelled at by an older man, and for trying to help, the Good Samaritan lost his life.

Nicole Ruiz was heading home on the 2 train after a normal Friday afternoon, but when it stopped at the 125th Street station around 3:30 p.m., she saw something that sent her into a panic -- a man wedged between the platform and her train.

"I was praying for him. I thought he was gonna make it. I thought he was gonna see his family," she said. "I saw his body half there and I had hoped he was gonna be alive."

"Oh god, it was horrible. It was disgusting," another witness said.

Police say a few minutes earlier, Brown tried to intervene in a heated argument on the platform between a man in his 40s and two teenage girls.

Then those two men started to fight, and Brown was shoved onto the tracks as the train was pulling in.

"A girl around my age, she was like, where's the guy that pushed him?" Ruiz said.

Police say the suspect ran away. First responders arrived and pronounced the Brown dead.

"I saw the plastic bag, the black plastic bag already over him, meaning he was already dead, and that's when everything hit me. Like, I started crying," Ruiz said.

Police spent the afternoon searching the scene and checking for surveillance to track down the man who they believe pushed Brown.

"I just wanted to know his name so I could keep him in my prayers," Ruiz said.

It's unclear if the two teens knew the man they were arguing with. Authorities are asking anyone with information about what happened to call police.

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