Woman Dies After Being Pulled Beneath Subway Car In Union Square

UNION SQUARE, NY — A 21-year-old aspiring actress died after making contact with a moving 6 train at Union Square subway station early Saturday, police and the MTA said.

Helen McDonald-Phalon, 21, was knocked underneath the train about 3 a.m., police said.

McDonald-Phalon had moved to the city from South Carolina to pursue acting, her mother told the Wall Street Journal. She worked at ThinkGeek in Manhattan and had recently moved to Brooklyn, her mother, Ann McDonald-Phalon, told the Journal.

"She was an amazing, beautiful light, and I'm devastated," her mother told the Journal.

A representative from ThinkGeek, a store for gadgets and collectibles, wrote on Facebook, "She was an amazing person to work with and simply a good-hearted individual."

The store set up a GoFundMe to support her family, which raised more than $5,000 in less than one day.

"Helen was a deeply caring, empathetic, and most of all humorous person," Hector Millet said on the GoFundMe campaign's site. "A true beacon of joy and positivity to all those fortunate enough to know her, or know of her."

"Though this loss has dimmed our lives for the moment, we keep her memories alive in our hearts. We love you, Helen!" Millet wrote.

This was the second instance this year in which a person was caught on a train and killed.

In February, a man died after being dragged by a train at the Grand Central Terminal.

Initial reports said that the man's bag was caught on the train as it left the station, though the MTA told the Journal Sunday that the bag didn't cause him to get caught on the train.

Early Saturday morning, the platform was uncrowded when McDonald-Phalon was killed, the MTA said.

"This is a horrible and very uncommon incident, and is under investigation by both the MTA and NYPD," the MTA said in a statement.

Note: Patch is a GoFundMe promotional partner.