Woman carrying baby dies after falling down subway stairs in New York

NEW YORK — A young mother has died after falling down stairs at a Manhattan subway station while holding her 1-year-old daughter in a stroller.

Malaysia Goodson, of Stamford, Connecticut, fell down the stairs at a midtown Manhattan station at around 8 p.m. Monday, police said.

Goodson was unconscious when police arrived. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her child was unharmed.

“I wish I could have helped her,” Goodson’s 23-year-old brother, Shawn Goodson, told The New York Times .

He said his sister was a protective, caring mother.

It was not immediately clear whether the 22-year-old Goodson had a medical issue that precipitated her death or whether she died from impact. The city’s medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which also is investigating, called Goodson’s death “a heartbreaking tragedy.”

Only about a quarter of New York City’s 472 subway stations have elevators, and the elevators that do exist are often out of service. Parents and caregivers who ride the subways with young children become adept at carrying a stroller and child up and down the stairs. Bystanders will often pitch in to help, but not always.

Shams Tarek, an MTA spokesman, said the Seventh Avenue B-D-E station where Goodson fell does have escalators. Parents are generally advised not to ride escalators with strollers, however.

The lack of elevators makes it difficult for people in wheelchairs to use New York’s subway system, and disability-rights activists have staged frequent protests over the issue.

Andy Byford, who was appointed the MTA’s head of the subway system last year after running the Toronto Transit Commission, has set a goal of adding enough elevators to the system that after five years, no rider will be more than two stops away from an accessible station.