Electrocuted at the L Train

A stranger had fallen onto the train tracks, where deadly jolts of electricity kept anyone from grabbing him

- Derek Burnett

IT WAS a sunny afternoon in June of 2022 when Anthony Perry stepped off the train at Chicago's 69th Street station. The 20-year-old, who worked nights in a grocery store, was on his way to see his grandfather so they could go look at a car Perry was thinking about buying.

On the platform, two men were throwing punches. Then the unthinkable happened: The pair tumbled over the edge and onto the tracks. One man ended up on his back, fending off blows. Suddenly, he started bucking and convulsing. The aggressor straddling him leaped backward, bounded back up onto the platform and disappeared.

The man had fallen atop the third rail, the conduit for the 600 volts of electricity that power Chicago's L trains. As Perry and other horrified onlookers watched, he twitched grotesquely as the current surged through his body, his head bouncing up and down off the tracks.

"Help him!" a woman wailed.