You link has apparently expired as well.
It's very tragic but unlike his grieving widow I can easily understand how it happened: I've ridden enough NYC subways to have seen many people in many many poses of sleep, inebriation, and/or stupor. You don't go around touching or waking everyone you see on a subway in such repose. AS the transit person says in the article, it's actually against their policy to disturb anyone who's sitting up, and that doesn't surprise me in the least: if a transit worker woke everyone they say dozing they would have their head taken off at least a few times per day.
It's terribly sad, but unless they adopt a policy of "no sleeping, no eyes closed, on the subways" they have no basis for nudging awake everyone they see with drooping head......
My thoughts go out to his family.
I remember the first time I saw a homeless person sleeping on a bench. I was pretty young and very surpised that people just walked by as if the guy wasn't there. It was a really cold Boston day and the guy was on the bench covered with newspaper. I remember asking my brother how people knew if the guy was alive or dead. He just shrugged and said that maybe everyone walking by didn't care if the guy was alive or dead because he didn't exist to them. A potent lesson to learn at such a young age.