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Michael Ice's Family Searching for Answers after Subway Death

By DNAinfo Staff on February 27, 2012 4:38pm  | Updated on February 27, 2012 4:40pm

An image of Michael Ice at his graduation from University of Richmond. Ice was struck and killed by a 6 train on Saturday.
An image of Michael Ice at his graduation from University of Richmond. Ice was struck and killed by a 6 train on Saturday.
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Ice Family

By Nicholas Rizzi and Amy Zimmer

DNAinfo Staff

WESTCHESTER — The grieving family of a budding financial analyst and avid basketball player, who was struck and killed by a subway train last Saturday, is searching for answers in the wake of the young man's death.

Michael Ice, 22, of Rye, NY, had started his job as a financial analyst in Merill Lynch just a few months ago and was about to receive his business cards before tragedy struck.

"There was another 30 years of stuff we wanted to do together," said his devastated father, Michael Ice Sr., 53, at the family's home. "I don't have the ability to verbalize the devastation. You're numb."

Ice was hit by a southbound 6 train while walking on the tracks near the Spring Street station just before 6 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The medical examiner is awaiting the results of further testing to determine the cause of death and investigators are unsure as to why he was on the tracks.

But Ice Sr. believes the only reason his son would have set foot onto the tracks and risked his life would have been to retrieve his phone, which he lost that night.

The dad said a straphanger found the phone inside the car of a 6 train near a door, leading him to believe that his son thought he lost it on the tracks and was struck by a train while searching for it.

The younger Ice played basketball for Rye High School and graduated from the University of Richmond's Robbins School of Business with a degree in finance. He enjoyed basketball and surfing in summer and traveling to Rhode Island with his family in winter.

"You couldn’t have a happier kid," the dad said, describing his son as a hard working, caring and fun young man who put in long days at work.

"You couldn't have a more perfect story to have a tragic ending."

Since the death, Ice Sr. been walking around in a state of numbness, seeing pictures of all the things he and his son did together. The family had season tickets to the Knicks, and father and son would often go see games together.

Ice Jr. had been waiting for one of his college fraternity brothers to get a job so they could get an apartment together in the city and his dad was helping him map out his career when they last spoke Thursday.

"This is the worst thing that ever happened,” he said.