A man pushed a woman in front of an oncoming train in the Belgian capital, with the driver coming to a halt inches from her body. The incident was captured on video and the man arrested shortly afterwards.
Video captured at Rogier metro station on Friday evening shows the man creeping up behind the woman, before using two hands to shove her onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. Thankfully, the driver was able to brake before the woman’s motionless body was caught beneath the train.
With the suspect fleeing, a crowd of bystanders rushed to pick the woman up off the tracks.
“The driver reacted very well but is very much in shock, as is the victim,” a spokesman for Brussels public transit company STIB told the Brussels Times.
The Brussels’ public prosecutor’s office said that the man was arrested several minutes later at another metro station in the city. He has been charged with attempted homicide.
A similar incident took place hours later in New York, when a 40-year-old woman was pushed to her death at Times Square subway station on Saturday morning. The man who pushed her had a criminal history, was described by police as “emotionally disturbed,” and did not appear to have a prior relationship with his victim. He turned himself in to transit police shortly after the “unprovoked” attack, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters at the station.