Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Carlos Garcia, 50, has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a 48-year-old man shoved onto the subway tracks yesterday at the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue station following a physical altercation.

District Attorney Katz said: “The subway system is a vital lifeline for the millions of New Yorkers who depend on it to get around our great city. The recent spate of violence on trains and in stations is a threat not only to commuters, but to the city’s economic and social vitality. The violence must end. We must do everything we can to ensure that all New Yorkers can commute safely, and to that end we have charged the defendant and will be holding him accountable.”

Garcia, 50, of 133^rd Street in South Ozone Park, Queens, was arraigned late yesterday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Marty Lentz on charges of manslaughter in the second degree and assault in the second degree. Judge Lentz ordered the defendant to return to court on October 21, 2022. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

According to the charges, between 4:40 p.m. and 4:47 p.m., inside the Roosevelt Avenue-Jackson Heights subway station, the defendant physically assaulted the victim, causing him to fall onto the train tracks. An incoming train approached the subway station platform at the exact time of the fall, striking the victim and causing his death.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Nicolosi of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes (CCMC) Bureau is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Jaggnoor Lali of the DA’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Shawn Clark, CCMC Bureau Chief, and Michael Whitney, CCMC Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III and John Kosinski, Homicide Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, Karen Ross, Homicide Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.