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Woman charged with shoving manoff subway platform to his death
Source: Agencies |
December 31, 2012, Monday
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A woman suspected of shoving a man to his death in front of an oncoming New York subway train has been charged with "second-degree 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, last Thursday because: "I hate Hindus and Muslims."
Menendez was taken into custody in Brooklyn by authorities acting on a tip from someone who recognized the suspect from a video of the incident that was aired on television.
"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.
"Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant's actions can never be tolerated in a civilized society," he said.
The prosecutor's statement quoted 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 11, 2001, attack on Manhattan's World Trade Center by Muslim extremists who flew two hijacked jetliners into the twin towers.
Brown's statement gave no indication of the victim's ethnicity or religion or why Menendez might have taken Sen to be a Muslim.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said she did not believe the victim was wearing any clothing that would have led someone to identify him as being a Muslim.
The offense of second-degree murder as a hate crime carries a minimum sentence of 20 years to life in prison. The minimum penalty for second-degree murder alone is 15 years to life.
Witnesses told police a woman appeared to be mumbling and pacing last Thursday evening before she approached an unsuspecting man from behind on the platform of an elevated station in the borough of Queens.
She then shoved him onto the track as the train pulled into the station, witnesses said. Brown said Sen died of multiple blunt-force trauma.
After the incident, the suspect ran to the street in a scene caught on surveillance video that police released last Friday.
On December 3, Ki-Suck Han was killed after being shoved onto 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 the latest incident, 139 people have been struck by New York City subway trains so far in 2012, and 54 of them died.
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, last Thursday because: "I hate Hindus and Muslims."
Menendez was taken into custody in Brooklyn by authorities acting on a tip from someone who recognized the suspect from a video of the incident that was aired on television.
"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.
"Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant's actions can never be tolerated in a civilized society," he said.
The prosecutor's statement quoted 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 11, 2001, attack on Manhattan's World Trade Center by Muslim extremists who flew two hijacked jetliners into the twin towers.
Brown's statement gave no indication of the victim's ethnicity or religion or why Menendez might have taken Sen to be a Muslim.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said she did not believe the victim was wearing any clothing that would have led someone to identify him as being a Muslim.
The offense of second-degree murder as a hate crime carries a minimum sentence of 20 years to life in prison. The minimum penalty for second-degree murder alone is 15 years to life.
Witnesses told police a woman appeared to be mumbling and pacing last Thursday evening before she approached an unsuspecting man from behind on the platform of an elevated station in the borough of Queens.
She then shoved him onto the track as the train pulled into the station, witnesses said. Brown said Sen died of multiple blunt-force trauma.
After the incident, the suspect ran to the street in a scene caught on surveillance video that police released last Friday.
On December 3, Ki-Suck Han was killed after being shoved onto 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 the latest incident, 139 people have been struck by New York City subway trains so far in 2012, and 54 of them died.
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