Suspect charged after man falls onto SEPTA tracks during fight, is fatally struck by train

A 40-year-old man had been charged with involuntary manslaughter after another man was fatally struck by a SEPTA train during a fight Thursday on the 34th Street Station platform.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office identified the suspect as Chaz Wearing.

According to authorities, an altercation between two people broke out on the 34th Street platform around 4:40 p.m.

Video provided to authorities by a witness and later circulated online shows the final seconds of the argument as the victim has Wearing cornered, holding onto him by his clothes.

Philadelphia police said the victim, whose name has not been released, appeared to be scolding Wearing and “making threatening gestures.” Video shows Wearing breaking free, swinging, and punching the victim, causing him to fall on the tracks just as a train pulls in. The victim was pronounced dead just over an hour later.

Andrew Busch, the transit agency’s spokesperson, said what started the altercation remains unclear.

“What our police are looking at is if it started somewhere else,” he said. “As far as we know, it wasn’t a visible fight that was going on for a long period of time.”

SEPTA police who had been patrolling the station arrived at the scene almost immediately, according to Busch, collecting witness testimony and video.

Wearing fled the scene by exiting the station onto the street, Busch said, but SEPTA police arrested him a few blocks away shortly after the incident.

Wearing, who authorities believe to be homeless, had a bench warrant out for his arrest in connection with a strangulation case in Delaware County prior to Thursday’s incident. Prosecutors said he remained in custody and had a criminal record elsewhere in Pennsylvania that included guilty pleas to criminal trespassing, assault, and other offenses. It wasn’t clear Friday if Wearing had a lawyer in the SEPTA case.