Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Jury Acquits Street Vendor Who Fatally Shoved Man Onto Subway Tracks
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jul 18, 2017
Modified Jul 18, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jul 18, 2017
Modified Jul 18, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A man who pushed a subway rider in front of the Q train, killing him, has been found not guilty on all charges, the Manhattan District Attorney said on Monday.
The charges stem from a 2012 incident, in which a 34-year-old street vendor from Sierra Leone named Naeem Davis confessed to shoving Ki-Suck Han in the chest and sending him into the tracks. Davis maintained that he was acting in self-defense, telling DNAinfo that he was reacting to a fight Han had started by the turnstile, and hadn't meant "to push him that hard."
Following the fatal incident, the case took on an added level notoriety after the Post published a controversial photo of Han on the tracks, with the headline, "This man is about to die."
The jury's decision to acquit Davis on charges of murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide concluded the high-profile three-week trial. During the trial, Davis testified that Han made repeated death threats against him on the platform of the subway, and that he "thought the man was mentally ill." Davis also said that he himself is bipolar but is not taking medication.
Prosecutors argued that Davis could have avoided the man after realizing he was drunk—a medical examiner found three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood—or have pushed him to the side, instead of in the direction of the tracks.
"What he did was the equivalent of throwing a drunk high school student on the tracks, or a feeble old man,” Charles Whitt, the lead prosecutor on the case, told the jury, according to the Times. “He was no threat to Mr. Davis, and Mr. Davis knew it." The prosecutors also played a five-second cell phone video of Davis warning Han to "leave me the f-ck alone."
It took the jury three and a half days of deliberations before siding with Davis, who'd spent the past four and half years in city jails.
"For me, there was a lack of evidence on most of the charges,” jury foreman Gretchen Pfeil told the Post. "As a jury, I think, the vast majority of us from the beginning of our deliberations believed the prosecution had failed to prove that the defendant was not justified in his actions. And by the end of our deliberations, I believe we were of one mind that he was in fact justified in his actions or at least the prosecution had not convinced us otherwise."
"I knew it would happen eventually," Davis told reporters following the verdict. "If you work and have a job and do the right thing, the law is going to work on your behalf."
Tagged
ki-suck han
manhattan
MTA
naeem davis
subway
subway shoving
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
2 pedestrians killed in Bronx crash after driver ran red light, police say
The NYPD said the investigation is continuing and no one had been arrested Saturday.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
and
Ann Givens
Published Oct 10, 2026 at 1:24 p.m. ET
Rain could put a damper on NYC’s long weekend. Here’s when it will clear.
Remnants of Hurricane Isaias could bring more than an inch of rain, gusty winds and even a thunderstorm Sunday before conditions improve Monday.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
News
Rain could put a damper on NYC’s long weekend. Here’s when it will clear.
Remnants of Hurricane Isaias could bring more than an inch of rain, gusty winds and even a thunderstorm Sunday before conditions improve Monday.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Holy civics! NYC schools' own comic books in the spotlight at Comic Con
By
Jessica Gould
What we know about the ICE shooting in NYC
By
Karen Yi
DSA to Mamdani: Fire NYPD commissioner if ICE doesn't leave NYC
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Brigid Bergin
and
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .