New York, NY– Early this Saturday morning, after a 2-hour journey that turned out to be a wild 6 am goose chase, alternating from snow-trekking to subway riding (long story), I began home hoping to recover what was left of a tired, snowy morning. I take the 4 train downtown to Union Square and when I get to the last leg of this arduous journey I see that there is pink (not red, not yellow… but pink!) tape blocking off the entrances to the L-train ramp. The day started off in a tragic way and I had a weird feeling when I finally got home to my Brooklyn apartment. “A man died on the L this morning!!!” my roommate explained. So here is the answer to my question as to the unexpected rerouting earlier that morning.
According to the Associated Press a man was pinned onto the L-train tracks between 3rd Ave and Union Square. A Brooklyn-bound train seems to have struck him shortly after 8am on today’s snowy morning. There was an announcement on some L trains that there was an “investigation” along the L-train which caused tracks between Bedford and 8th Ave to get shut down. This of course perked-up everyone’s curiosity. MTA and NYPD officials stated this morning that they had not yet known why this man was “pinned” to the tracks nor who or if anyone was responsible for the pinning.
Information on this man has not yet been released but the rumor on the street however is that this man was 20 years old. I take the Brooklyn-bound train everyday from practice and from work. This seems to be the second man killed by a Brooklyn bound L train near Union Square (the last one was a 69-year old man last May) in less than a year. I think that occasionally I will not help it and I’ll come to think of these sad incidents, especially the latter that seems to be riddled by questions and mystery. 
Crazy. How does that happen? I wonder if it’s gang related.
This case is just shrouded with mystery… Also, the trains at that hour are 4 minutes apart. What was he doing on the tracks and how did he get there? I wonder if an employee that had access/knowledge of the tracks was involved?