Man Charged in Manhattan Subway Shoving Had History of Mental Illness, Family Says

The man who the police said pushed a subway rider in front of an oncoming train in East Harlem on Monday night, killing him, appears to have had a history of committing violent acts against others and struggles with mental illness.

The man, Carlton McPherson, 24, was arrested and charged with murder after pushing another man in front of an oncoming No. 4 train, the police said. The man who was killed was identified by two police officials and an internal report as Jason Volz, 54.

It was nearly 7 p.m. when several people standing on the uptown platform at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue saw Mr. McPherson walk up to Mr. Volz and, seemingly without provocation, push him in front of an oncoming train, according to the internal police report.

Responding officers found Mr. Volz underneath the train car with “severe trauma to the body and face,” according to the report. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses pointed out Mr. McPherson to officers as he was leaving the scene and he was arrested.

Anna Torres, Mr. Volz’s ex-wife, said he was recovering from addiction and had just moved into a new apartment. She said he had been sober for two years. He was someone who was “really turning things around,” she said.

“It just seems like such a waste,” Ms. Torres said in a phone interview Tuesday. “This is crazy because he survived the pandemic, survived being homeless. He got better, he got clean and everything was working.”

Mr. McPherson’s criminal history appears to date back years.

The Bronx district attorney’s office said that a Carlton McPherson with the same birth date and address, whom the office believed to be the same person, was charged at the age of 16 with assaulting another teenager in the Bronx, after punching him in the face with brass knuckles and fracturing his nose.

And last October, a man with Mr. McPherson’s name and year of birth was charged in Brooklyn with assault, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon for striking another man with a walking cane at a homeless shelter. Mr. McPherson was arraigned and given supervised release.

He then received a bench warrant and was brought back to court in January. He was held on bail after failing to appear to court, but prosecutors were required by law to release him when the victim was reluctant to cooperate, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said.

In a brief phone interview, Mr. McPherson’s mother, Octavia Scouras, said he had been raised by his paternal grandmother from a young age. “I did everything possible so this child would have a better life,” Ms. Scouras said.

Ms. Scouras, who said she also lived in New York City, said that Mr. McPherson had been hospitalized at least twice for mental health treatment. Brian Chelcun, a Legal Aid lawyer who represented Mr. McPherson in the October case, declined to comment when reached on Tuesday.

The attack occurred as a string of violent episodes in the subway system have left some New Yorkers on edge.

Surveys by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway, have shown that significant numbers of riders feel unsafe, with many citing fear of crime and erratic behavior. Analysis of crime data from recent years is complicated by changing ridership numbers as the system continues to rebound from the lows of the coronavirus pandemic. Data from recent years show that major crime on the subway decreased slightly in 2023 compared with the year before, as ridership rose.

But some categories of crime that cause New Yorkers particular alarm, such as felony assault, have risen far above prepandemic levels. And in 2024, overall crime in the city’s transit system is up about 7 percent through March 17, compared with the same period last year.

Three murders and three shootings were reported across the transit system, compared with one murder and one shooting during the same period last year.

Earlier this month, a chaotic confrontation on the A train ended when one man took a gun from another man who was threatening him and shot him in the head, according to the police.

Police Department leaders gathered at another Harlem subway station hours before the shoving occurred on Monday to announce that an additional 800 police officers would be sent into the subway system to crack down on fare evasion.

And that deployment was in addition to the 1,000 police officers that Mayor Eric Adams said would begin patrolling the system in February after a 45 percent spike in major crimes — such as robberies, homicides and assaults — in January, compared to the same time last year.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Adams said there had been six police officers at the 125th Street station on Monday night, both on the platform and nearby.

“They were present,” he said. “But when you’re dealing with a severe mental health crisis or if you want to participate in criminal behavior, we have now reached a point where we have those so emboldened by that they can keep doing their actions, that the uniform no longer means anything.”

On Tuesday, at the apartment building where Mr. McPherson sometimes stayed in the Bronx, neighbors said they had seen him on several occasions mumbling to himself.

Marco Paredes, who has lived in the building for 17 years, said he had seen Mr. McPherson sleep in a hallway closet in the building.

“That kid’s been having a lot of problems lately,” he said.

Liset Cruz, Claire Fahy and Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.