2 Cops Shot on NYC Subway

More depressing news on the New York City subway last night, as two police officers were shot while stopping a man moving between cars on the Brooklyn-bound N-train, reports the New York Times. Two plainclothes cops asked the rider to leave the train with them, but, after initially appearing to do so, the man shot them both—one officer in the back, and the other in the thigh and groin. The former's bulletproof vest prevented more serious injury; he returned fire with seven shots, killing the man. Both cops are in the hospital now, in stable condition.

It wasn't the only subway-related story in the Times today: The paper also takes a look at the psychological battles that can plague those behind the controls. Dozens of people jump or fall to their deaths on the New York subways each year—55 in 2012—and images of the deaths can plague operators, who get three days off when a passenger is killed. Many take more unpaid time off to recover, and some never return to the job. "As cruel as it makes it sound, for the individual it's over," says a former operator whose train killed a man in 1992. "It’s just beginning for the train operator." (The Times reports that a third police officer was also shot last night, while off duty at his family's car dealership in the Bronx. The gunman and his accomplices were subdued and arrested.)