A rookie transit worker was fatally struck by a D train late Thursday night in The Bronx while setting up flags to warn of a construction project ahead, city and union officials said.
Moet McCullum, a mother of three with just 11 months on the job, was hit shortly after 11:30 p.m. at the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station, the MTA said. Emergency medical workers took the 41-year-old in critical condition to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
“This just broke my heart to wake up in the early morning hours to find out that we had lost one of our dearest members,” John Chiarello, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, said at a Friday press briefing.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it has dispatched a “go team” to New York City to investigate McCullum’s death, the first on-the-tracks fatality of a transit worker since 57-year-old Hilarion Joseph was hit by a D train in November 2023 while he was on flagging duties at Manhattan’s 34th Street–Herald Square station.
That incident led the Federal Transit Administration to cite the MTA for what FTA officials called an “escalating pattern” of safety failures, including a 58% surge since 2022 in “near-miss events” involving transit workers.
The MTA defines a near-miss event as one marked by “potential employee contact with trains.” According to the FTA report, which was released as two directives, those usually involve improper flagging, a safety practice in which workers set up flags and lights to warn track workers about the presence of trains.
From 1998 to 2007, there were 10 track worker fatalities — including the 2007 deaths of Marvin Franklin and Daniel Boggs, who were struck by trains in Brooklyn and Manhattan within the span of five days.
“I worked on the tracks, I know the flagging, I know the issues, but it’s inherently dangerous work,” Chiarello said. “When you’re working under live service keeping New York moving, you’re going to have issues.”
The FTA did not respond Friday to a request for comment.
An internal MTA incident account obtained by The City Reporter said the victim in Thursday night’s deadly collision was setting up flags on the tracks when she was struck. The account notes the train operator “did not see any lights” and “proceeded at normal speed” while heading south from the 167th Street stop.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, the safety of our customers,” said Demetrius Crichlow, president of New York City Transit. “So we stand together with the union and the investigative agencies to make sure that once a root cause is found that we do what’s necessary to protect our employees.”
McCullum, whose twin sister has worked for New York City Transit for 10 years, usually served as a train conductor. But officials said she was posted as a construction flagger late Thursday, with a source telling The City Reporter she was part of a crew that was setting up flagging before contractors could start installing fiber-optic cable in manhole covers at track level.
“They’re out there making sure that the contractors are safe on the tracks,” Chiarello said.
Chris Drummond, a TWU Local 100 vice president who represents subway train operators and conductors, was among the officials who met with McCullum’s mother, Elizabeth, and other relatives in the wake of the death.
“This is dangerous work,” he said. “Our brothers and sisters risk their lives every day so passengers get to and from and get where they’re going safely.”
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