A 19-year-old man was electrocuted when he jumped onto the third rail of the subway tracks at the 59th Street/Lexington Avenue station on Monday as police were looking for him, a police source said.
Shaun Jackson, of Brooklyn, robbed a newsstand on the street with another man and then fled into the busy Upper East Side station at about 2:50 p.m., police said.
People on the street alerted nearby cops to the crime and police followed Jackson into the station. Jackson then came out from behind a pillar and spotted police before jumping onto the tracks, cops said.
The other man fled in an unknown direction.
Jackson, who was pronounced dead at the scene, had $144 on him, police said.
A law enforcement source said Jackson had more than two dozen prior arrests.
The Force Investigation Division will investigate the incident, which is typical in this type of situation, the police source said.
The incident disrupted service on the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 trains on Monday evening, but service resumed with delays at about 7:40 p.m., the MTA said.
With Nicole Brown
