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Police Have Suspect in Custody in Fatal 49th Street Q Train Push

By  Murray Weiss Trevor Kapp and Julie  Shapiro | December 4, 2012 3:38pm | Updated on December 4, 2012 5:50pm

NEW YORK — Police have a suspect in custody who they believe killed a man by pushing him onto the tracks in front of a Q train at the 49th Street station Monday afternoon, sources said.

The suspect got into an argument with the victim, Ki-Suck Han, 58, an Elmhurst resident, and then shoved Han off the platform, where a Q train struck and killed him about a minute later, police said.

Police had been searching for the suspect, who was captured on cellphone video and surveillance footage, and they picked up a man who matches his description at 50th Street and Seventh Avenue Tuesday, sources said.

The man is well known in the area for helping street vendors break down their tables and cart away their wares at the end of each day, sources and acquaintances said.

Liz Williams, a newsstand vendor at 50th and Seventh, said she saw the suspect Tuesday morning and he was wearing the same clothes as in the surveillance footage.

''I said to him, 'This looks like you,'" said Williams, who knows the suspect because he has run errands for her. "He said, 'It's not me. He's 20 years old.'''

A worker for Gray Line New York Sightseeing, who has known the suspect for about 15 years, said he spotted the man on Tuesday and pointed him out to an NYPD detective, who took him into custody.

"When I saw the picture, I told the detectives, 'I know this guy,'" said the Gray Line worker, who declined to give his name. "This is the guy you guys are looking for."

The worker said vendors on the block regularly paid the suspect $10 to move their goods to storage at the end of the day.

"He's a quiet guy, very easygoing," the Gray Line worker said. "He's not violent. He's a nice guy. I was surprised."

Williams, who said she saw police walking the suspect down the block on Tuesday, was also shocked by his alleged involvement in the killing.

"To me, he is always respectful. To me, he is very nice," Williams said. "I've never seen nothing violent about him.... He always seemed like a regular person. I don't think he knows what he did. He was too calm."

Police said the suspect was harassing straphangers on the station's platform and may have "picked a fight" with Han.

Han was on the tracks for at least a minute and was trying to climb back onto the platform with the Q train slammed into him, crushing him, sources said.