Garden City man killed in subway mourned

A Garden City man who authorities said was accidentally struck and killed by a subway train in Manhattan Saturday was remembered by his mother Monday for his kindness and outgoing personality.

"He was the most wonderful son and brother that anybody could ever have," said Mary O'Mara, who held back tears as she recalled her son Brian J. O'Mara, 22. "He always had a smile on his face." He was, she said, "just the best."

O'Mara said her son graduated last year from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and began work in September as a consultant for Corporate Insight, which does research for the financial services industry.

O'Mara said her son had been out with friends at a Knicks game the night before he died. Authorities said Brian O'Mara was fatally struck by a Brooklyn-bound L train as he stood on the tracks between Union Square and Third Avenue at about 8:12 a.m.

Spokesmen for the NYPD, which is still investigating the incident, said O'Mara entered the emergency exit area in the tunnel, but they had no information about why he was there. The spokesmen said there didn't appear to be any criminality involved. Said one, "There was an accident, [and] he got struck."

O'Mara struggled Monday night to talk about her youngest child. She said the family doesn't have details about what happened. "We just know that he was struck." She said her son was on his way to Penn Station "to come home."

"I can't believe it's real. I just can't," she said.

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A funeral for O'Mara will take place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Garden City. Viewing will take place Thursday and Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Park Funeral Chapels in Garden City Park.

In addition to his mother, Brian O'Mara is survived by his father, Kenneth; brother, Christopher of Manhattan; and sister, Lauren, of Chicago.