Straphangers in Downtown Brooklyn gasped in horror upon learning what happened Wednesday afternoon on the southbound R subway platform.
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Police say an 18-year-old male punched 65-year-old Jacinto Suarez in a random attack at the Jay Street-MetroTech Station.
The sudden blow sent Suarez onto the subway tracks and knocked him unconscious.
"It's unknown how he was removed from the tracks but we believe good Samaritans picked him up and placed him back onto the platform," said Assistant Chief Vincent Coogan, NYPD Transit Bureau.
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First responders then rushed Suarez to Brooklyn Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
Police say the two men did not know each other. The teenager never left the scene and was quickly apprehended and arrested by a responding officer.
"He was talking to himself. He then approached this male and the male asked him to get away, to back off. He did turn around, start to walk away. At this point he then came back and punched the male," Coogan said.
"They need very high punishment. Very high punishment. They do a lot of crazy stuff. Very high punishment," said Rebecca Stafford, a straphanger.
Police believe someone used their smartphone to record the good Samaritans who came to the victim's aid.
Investigators want to speak with the person who recorded that video and to those who pulled the man off the tracks.