Fleeing Car Theft Suspect Struck By Train, Killed: MTA Police

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — Police have released the identity of a man killed in an early morning tragedy on the tracks at the Poughkeepsie train station.

Shortly after 2 a.m. on Wednesday, an MTA Police Department officer patrolling the parking garage at the Poughkeepsie station saw a 30-year-old man who appeared to be attempting to steal a vehicle.

While the officer began inspecting the vehicle, the subject fled. Police say the man fled north, jumping over a low wall of the parking garage onto a sloped snow embankment, which at points nearly reaches the second level of the parking garage. He then continued east toward the station yard.

MTAPD officers lost sight of the suspect after he jumped off of the second level of the garage.

About 15 minutes later, as officers were canvassing the area, the MTAPD was alerted by Metro-North that a pedestrian just north of the Poughkeepsie station's southbound platform had been struck by a southbound CSX freight train with about 65 cars.

An initial investigation into that incident found that the suspect died on the tracks after tangling with the train. He has since been identified as 30-year-old Alexander Sabel, of Hyde Park, according to MTA police.