What do you think?

New York Post publishes grim photo of man about to die on subway tracks

A grim New York Post cover photo showing the final moments of a Queens man who authorities say was pushed onto subway tracks has sparked outrage among readers.

New York Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi photographed 58-year-old Ki Suk Han as he struggled yesterday to escape an oncoming train after being pushed onto the tracks by an unidentified man at the Times Square Station.

New York Police Department footage captured the argument that Han had with his assailant before being shoved onto the tracks.

The Post photograph was accompanied by the two headlines "Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die," and "Doomed."

The criticism on Twitter was aimed at Abbasi, who was at the station while on assignment for an unrelated project, and at the Post for publishing the photograph. Critics asked why Abbasi did not do more to save Han.

Abbasi said he fired the flash to try to alert the train driver. A lot of people are questioning the fine line between chronicling desperate situations as they occur and helping those in such dire straits. This article mentions that this situation has been likened to the Kitty Genovese story in 1964, where a woman from Queens was murdered and although the initial characterisation of apathetic witnesses in that case has been re-analysed, it remains a compelling case of what people do, or rather don't do, in situations like this.

I recognise that everyone is not cut out to be a hero, to do something to risk their own life to save another. I don't know how many people were really within reach to try to save him. It probably would have taken more than one person to help pull him up. But it's sad that no one at least tried to actually do so, and then the New York Post took advantage of the photo with its lurid headlines to sell papers in a bid worthy of the lowest of tabloids.

That poor man and his family. I hope they find the person who did this and charge him with murder. Unfortunately, it sounds like it may have been someone who was mentally ill.

UPDATE: Police Question Man in Subway Push