Moet McCullum

Moet McCullum died on September 3, 2026, after she was struck by a southbound D train just after 11:30 p.m. near the 161st Street Yankee Stadium station in the Bronx. She was working as a construction flagger, setting up warning lights meant to alert oncoming trains to the presence of a work crew on the tracks, when the train hit her. Emergency workers took her, in critical condition, to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead in the early hours of September 4.

The exact cause of the collision has not been fully determined and remains under investigation, but an internal MTA account of the incident, obtained by reporters, indicated that the operator of the train that struck her had been warned at the previous stop about workers on the tracks ahead and nonetheless continued at normal speed. The National Transportation Safety Board, the MTA and the Transport Workers Union Local 100 have each opened investigations into the circumstances of her death, and those inquiries were still underway as of mid September 2026.

New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow released a statement calling it a difficult day for the agency and saying he had visited the hospital and the scene and met with McCullum's family. TWU Local 100 President John V. Chiarello said the union was heartbroken by the death of a member who was a mother of three at the start of a new career. The union held a press conference at its headquarters the day after her death to address what it described as a tragic and sudden loss, and TWU officials, including vice president Chris Drummond, met with McCullum's mother and other relatives in the days afterward.

McCullum's death prompted an outpouring of grief and anger from fellow transit workers, many of whom said the tragedy underscored long standing concerns about the safety of track workers who must do their jobs on live rails, often at night. Her family has publicly called for a complete and honest accounting of what happened, saying they want the truth about the crash that took her from her three children, her twin sister and her mother. No public funeral or memorial details had been announced as of this writing.

McCullum grew up in Brooklyn as part of a transit family. Public reporting after her death described her as a beloved mother and grandmother whose twin sister Monet also worked for New York City Transit as a subway conductor. Friends and relatives remembered her as outgoing and funny, the life of family gatherings. Specific childhood and schooling details were not widely published in the initial news coverage of her death.

She was the mother of three children, including twin sons and a daughter in some family accounts, and she doted on a young grandchild. Her twin sister Monet is an MTA conductor with roughly a decade of service. Their mother, Elizabeth, met with TWU Local 100 officials after the crash. Brother-in-law Tyrell Thomas spoke to television reporters about the shock of losing her and about the family's desire for a full accounting of what happened on the tracks.

Before flagging assignments, McCullum worked from a conductor's cab: making announcements, opening and closing doors, and watching platforms. Conductors can be detailed as construction flaggers when track work requires protection. Colleagues and union officials said she had been with the agency for about eleven months at the time of her death, still early in a transit career that her sister had already pursued for years.

As a construction flagger, McCullum placed colored lamps and flags to warn train operators that workers were ahead. The job requires walking onto active tracks, often at night, while control-center communications and lookouts are supposed to keep approaching trains at restricted speed. Federal reviews in recent years had flagged rising near-misses involving track workers, improper flagging communication, and failures to protect work zones.

On what was described as a routine overnight assignment near Yankee Stadium, McCullum was helping set up flagging before contractors could work at track level, including fiber-related manhole work according to some accounts. Shortly after 11:30 p.m., a southbound D train struck her. Emergency crews rushed her to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead early on 4 September.

The NTSB, MTA, and TWU Local 100 each opened investigations. An internal MTA narrative said the operator had been warned about flaggers yet reported seeing no lights and continued at normal speed. Union leaders said they would not speculate until investigators finished reviewing control-center communications, train data, and crew statements. No criminal charges were reported in the initial police assessment.

On 4 September, Local 100 held a press conference at its Brooklyn hall. President John Chiarello thanked Governor Kathy Hochul for calling with condolences and said the younger members of the union felt like his children. Drummond stressed that brothers and sisters risk their lives daily so passengers can move safely. Crichlow called it a difficult day for the MTA family and said the agency would work with investigators.

McCullum's death was compared to earlier flagging tragedies, including Louis Gray Jr. in 2016 and Hilarion Joseph in 2023. The Federal Transit Administration had previously cited a growing pattern of near-misses and inadequate track protection. Critics argued that hand-placed lamps, whistles, and radios remain a fragile shield in a system that still runs trains past workers establishing protection.

Tributes came from coworkers, Local 100 and Local 106 statements, and family interviews on local television. Twin sister Monet's public grief and Thomas's call for justice framed McCullum not only as a workplace fatality statistic but as a mother, sister, and grandmother taken at 41. Transit Supervisors Organization Local 106 published an in-memoriam note mourning a conductor and construction flagger lost on the D line.

Her death became a flashpoint in New York's long argument over subway track safety and labor conditions. Whether investigators' findings produce lasting changes to flagging practice remained open as of mid-September 2026. What was already clear was the human cost: a young transit worker from a transit family, killed while trying to keep a work zone safe for others.