A woman suspected of shoving a man to his death in front of an oncoming New York subway train was arrested on Saturday and charged with “seconddegree murder as a hate crime” in the second such fatality this month for one of the world’s busiest transit systems.
The district attorney for the New York City borough of Queens said Erika Menendez (31), who was seen pacing the subway platform and muttering to herself before the attack, had told investigators she pushed the victim, Sunando Sen (46), on Thursday because “I hate Hindus and Muslims”.
Ms Menendez was taken into custody after a tip from someone who recognised the suspect from video of the incident that was aired on television, a spokeswoman for the district attorney said.
“The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter’s worst nightmare – being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train,” district attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
The statement quoted Ms Menendez as telling investigators: “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims. Ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.” Her alleged admission was an apparent reference to the September 11th, 2001, attacks on Manhattan’s World Trade Center.
Mr Sen was a native of India who lived in Queens and had a printing business in New York city. He had no family in New York, according to police.
Mr Sen’s death was the second this month of a New York subway rider pushed on to the tracks of the city’s subway system. On December 3rd, Ki-Suck Han was killed after being shoved on to subway tracks in Manhattan as a train entered a station near Times Square. A suspect, Naeem Davis, has been charged with second-degree murder.
Including Thursday’s incident, 139 people have been struck by New York City subway trains so far in 2012, and 54 of them died, a transport spokesman said. – (Reuters)