September 4, 2026 THE BRONX, NY Darkness fell over the 161 St-Yankee Stadium station late Thursday night, transforming a routine shift into an unimaginable nightmare. Moet McCullum, a dedicated mother of three who had just embarked on a promising career with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, stepped onto the D line tracks to place safety flags. She never made it home.
In a horrifying sequence of events, McCullum was struck and dragged by an oncoming train, marking the first fatality of an MTA track worker in three years. The sudden loss has sent shockwaves through the transit community, plunging her grieving family, coworkers, and union leaders into deep mourning.
MTA NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow rushed to the hospital and the grim scene in the immediate aftermath, later expressing profound grief alongside MTA Chair Janno Lieber and Transport Workers Union Local 100 President John Chiarello.
"Last night, we tragically lost a member of our MTA family," Crichlow said in a somber statement, asking the public to keep McCullum's loved ones in their thoughts and prayers.
As investigators descend upon the Yankee Stadium station, critical questions remain unanswered. What went wrong in the final moments before the impact? How did a safety-flagging operation turn fatal?
Chiarello emphasized that the union will not rush to judgment while the exact sequence of events is scrutinized. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has already launched a joint inquiry, working hand-in-hand with the Track Safety Task Force and the TWU Local 100 Safety Team to dissect every second of the tragedy.
For a transit network that moves millions daily, this disaster exposes the perilous reality lurking in the shadows of the underground network, where workers put their lives on the line every single night. Union representatives are slated to address the media in a Friday afternoon press conference, where further revelations about safety protocols and accountability are expected to come to light.
Photo: Leonard Wiggins/MTA
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