The Moment A Fist Fight Turns Deadly In The Philadelphia Train System

First off, we’ll start with a content warning. What you are about to see isn’t gory. You don’t actually see the person die, technically. But you will see him fall off a platform and then a train roll in seconds later, and that might be upsetting: Philly is out of control. Man dies after falling onto trains tracks during fight. Philly man pushed onto SEPTA tracks in altercation, killed by oncoming train. https://thepostmillennial.com/philly-man-pushed-onto-septa-tracks-in-altercation-killed-by-oncoming-train?utm_campaign=64483 -- From the article: “A man died after being pushed onto the tracks at a Philadelphia SEPTA mass tranist station on Thursday evening following an altercation with another man in the station. According to NBC 10, officials said the incident occurred at the SEPTA platform for the Market-Frankford line at 34th and Market streets in the University City section of West Philadelphia at around 4:30 pm.”

“Video shows the two men arguing, with the taller man telling the other man to ‘give me back my lighter.’ The shorter man could be seen punching the taller man, pushing him off the platform and onto the tracks where a SEPTA train arrived seconds later, running the man over as onlookers screamed.” -- We would dispute their description of the video. It does not appear that the shorter man pushed the taller man onto the tracks. It appears that they were having a grappling fist fight and the taller man fell back. Another article we read identified the shorter man as Chaz Wearing and said he has been charged with involuntary manslaughter: A man has been charged after a fight on a SEPTA platform in the University City section of Philadelphia caused the victim to fall onto the tracks. https://6abc.com/septa-philadelphia-death-train-accident-34th-street-station/14275183/ -- The deceased has not been identified. We suspect they are trying to locate his family, first.

Our interpretation that Wearing did not ‘push’ the victim is not merely being nitpicky. That is crucial because it marks the difference between Wearing’s conduct being intentional or accidental. That is, if you intentionally push someone onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train, that is just intentional murder. Based solely on the video, it doesn’t look like that is what Wearing did. No, it looks like the only intent Wearing had was to use non-lethal force—that is, they were in a fist fight. It looks like it was an accident that the victim fell onto the tracks. That can change if we get new evidence, but just judging by the video, that looks like an accident.

• More at: Twitchy - The Moment a Fist Fight Turns Deadly in the Philadelphia Train System (and a Legal Deep Dive)
https://twitchy.com/aaronwalker/2024/01/05/watch-the-moment-a-fistfight-turns-deadly-in-the-philadelphia-subway-system-and-a-deep-dive-n2391420