Man pushed in front of New York subway: woman arrested

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A woman who told police she killed a man by pushing him outside a New York subway because she hates Muslims since the September 11, 2001 attacks, and believed he was, was charged on Saturday with ‘committing hate-motivated murder, prosecutors said.

Erika Menendez has been accused of killing Sunando Sen, an Indian immigrant who was struck by a train in the borough of Queens on Thursday evening. It is the second such fatal event to occur in the American metropolis this month.

Menendez, 31, was awaiting arraignment on Saturday night, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. If found guilty, she is liable to 25 years in prison. It was not clear if she had a lawyer, and she could not be reached, since she was in the cell.

The defendant, who was arrested after a passerby recognized her after viewing surveillance videos of the incident, admitted to pushing the victim, who was thrown from behind, authorities said.

“I pushed a Muslim down the wharf because I hate Hindus and Muslims since 2001, when they brought down the Twin Towers, I’ve been after them ever since,” Menendez told police, according to the district attorney’s office.

Mr Sen was originally from India, but it was not possible to know if he was a Hindu or a Muslim. The 46-year-old lived in Queens and owned a printing house. He was pushed off a wharf on a line linking Manhattan and Queens. Witnesses said a woman speaking aloud got up from her seat and pushed him onto the track as the train entered the station, before fleeing.

The two had never met before, authorities assured, and witnesses revealed to police that the two did not interact at the dock.

Police released surveillance videos showing her hugging her neck. On Saturday, a passerby in Brooklyn noticed a woman who looked like the one in the video and called the police. Authorities confirmed her identity and took her to the station, where she made statements implicating her in connection with the crime, said Paul Browne, spokesman for the New York Police Department.

According to the district attorney, such hateful remarks against Muslims and Hindus cannot be tolerated.

On December 3, a man of Korean descent was pushed past a train at the Times Square subway station. A homeless man has been arrested in connection with this case. He claims to have acted in self-defense and is awaiting trial.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday asked residents of the American metropolis to put the most recent incident in perspective. News of the sordid crime came as Mr Bloomberg proudly announced a decrease in homicides and gun crimes in New York City in 2012.

“This is a very tragic story, but we must focus, today, on the level of security that prevails in New York,” he said, after participating in a ceremony. graduation in a police academy.