Daily Archives: May 16, 2010

A brave Brooklyn man died after heroically leaping into the path of a subway train in Queens to save the life of a female friend who had jumped on the tracks to retrieve a dropped jacket.

José Gomez, a restaurant manager just days from his 30th birthday, was crushed by a northbound N train moments after landing on the elevated trackbed at the 36th Avenue station in Astoria at 10:38 p.m. Friday.

Beatriz Briceno, 19, the pal for whom Gomez died, was in critical condition at Elmhurst Hospital, where she was hooked to a respirator, her relatives told The Post.
SUBWAY SACRIFICE: When pretty Beatriz Briceno tried to retrieve her coat from the 36th Avenue station tracks, friend José Gomez (inset) jumped after her. He was killed; she suffered serious head injuries. Doctors were considering brain surgery.

Gomez’s heartbroken parents were too devastated to talk after cops broke the tragic news at their Bushwick home, said his sister, Kimberly.

“I couldn’t believe it — I thought it was a joke,” she told The Post. “He told my mom he was going to a party that night.”

Briceno and Gomez were standing on the nearly empty Queens-bound platform waiting for a train when the woman accidentally dropped her jacket onto the tracks.

She tragically chose to go after it — and wound up staring into lights of the oncoming train. That’s when Gomez jumped onto the tracks and tried to push her out of the way, sources said.

But the train smashed into them — the impact pinning their bodies under the third car, transit officials said.

Rescuers had to shut power to the third rail before they could reach Gomez and Briceno — and it took nearly 30 minutes to get them out.

“There was blood dripping all over and a lot of frantic movement” beneath the train as firefighters tried to get them out, said Astoria resident Bruce Williams.

“They brought the man down in front of me. The firemen were holding the backboard and medics were pumping the guy as they carried him.”

Queens resident Kimberly Arce, 25, who was riding the train that hit the victims, said she had just heard the onboard automated station announcement when the train abruptly stopped and the lights and air conditioning went out.

“We had to walk through the train to the front to get out on the platform,” said Arce. “You could see firemen under the cars. I heard one of them say. ‘The female is gasping for air, and the male is not responding.’ ”

Gomez was pronounced dead on arrival at Elmhurst Hospital about 20 minutes later, authorities said.

Police sources said the two may have been drinking and there were early indications alcohol played a role in the tragedy. Neither family seemed to know how the two knew each other. One of Gomez’s friends said the two had recently met.

Gomez emigrated from Venezuela three years ago to join his father, Israel, 58, and mother, Louisa, 52, in Brooklyn. He was working as an assistant manager at a Manhattan restaurant, the family said.

The family was preparing to celebrate Gomez’s 30th birthday Thursday, said sister Kimberly.

Briceno moved to the city a couple of months ago after graduating from Hamden HS in Connecticut, where she lived with her father and stepmother. She was working in a coffee shop, a relative said.