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#NYC subway platforms would all have cameras under Brooklyn pol’s legislation

“NYC subway platforms would all have cameras under Brooklyn pol’s legislation”

Sedrick Simon was fatally struck by a Brooklyn subway in 2019 — but nearly three years later, the circumstances surrounding his death remain a mystery.

That’s because the station where the 36-year-old was killed around 7 a.m. had no cameras to capture what had happened — and no witnesses have ever come forward.

“My brother died at the Newkirk Avenue station, he was hit by a train — to this day that’s all we know,” Jennifer Muhammad, his older sister, recently told The Post.

“I can get robbed in front of McDonald’s and there’s a camera. I don’t know if it was a homicide. I don’t know if he was pushed on tracks. I know nothing.”

Simon’s Dec. 26, 2019 death prompted Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn to introduce a bill called “Sedrick’s Law” — which would force the MTA to install cameras on all subway platforms. 

There wasn’t enough political will at the time to turn it into a law. But now, Bichotte is reviving the effort in wake of the April 12 mass shooting on a crowded Brooklyn N train — and after accused gunman Frank James spent nearly 30 hours on the lam because of malfunctioning MTA surveillance cameras.

Sedrick Simon
Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn introduced “Sedrick’s Law” that would mandate cameras on all subway platforms.

“In 2019, dollars stood in the way of our safety,” said the Brooklyn Democrat, who represents Midwood, where Simon lived. “If we had cameras, we would have had a clearer picture of Sedrick’s death, and probably a little more closure.”

Bichotte believes the bill — currently in committee and being expedited to hopefully be passed before the legislative session ends in June — will also keep New Yorkers safer at a time when crime is rising on the subways.

“People know that surveillance is also a deterrent from crime,” she said. “If you know they are surveillance cameras, you’re more likely not to actually commit the crime.”

A group of Congress members, including three from New York City, pressed the MTA for answers in a blistering April 20 letter about why the cameras were malfunctioning during the gruesome horrific subway attack in Sunset Park — especially when the agency has millions in federal dollars for security.

Jennifer Muhammad and her brother Sedrick Simon
Sedrick Simon’s sister Jennifer Muhammad told The Post that she still doesn’t know if her brother’s death was a homicide.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will also audit the MTA’s subway security camera system in the wake of the disaster, The Post learned, as will Acting MTA Inspector General Elizabeth Keating, the agency’s top watchdog.

MTA spokesperson Tim Minton said the agency is “proud of a subway camera system the NYPD calls the ‘most reliable’ and ‘highest quality’ of any providing pictures in the City.”

Last month, he noted that there are nearly 10,000 cameras monitoring the subway system and that up to 1% may not be working at any given time, including for scheduled maintenance.

Bichotte painted a more complicated picture of the current surveillance situation underground. 

“We may have some cameras that are there, but they’re not fully operational, or … you can’t see the full platform. We want to make sure that it’s mandated. We want MTA to ensure that their priority is the safety of the passengers,” she said.

Muhammad — who described her brother “Seddy” as a “teddy bear … who would give the shirt off his back to anyone” — said the MTA “didn’t even have the decency to call” her family after his disturbing death.

“We couldn’t even look at his body because he was mangled by a train, but yet to this day I’m unable to tell my mother and father how her son passed,” she said.

She said she hopes the bill named after her late sibling will provide families some closure — should another tragedy on the rails strike again.

“This bill will create a level of accountability for sure, and moving forward I hope it will save lives,” she said. “I don’t want another death like my brother’s.”

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