NEW YORK CITY — A 31-year-old Bronx woman has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the death of a man shoved in front of a subway train, Queens prosecutors said Saturday.
District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the woman as Erika Menendez. She was awaiting arraignment.
“(She) said in sum and substance ‘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,’” the prosecutor said in a statement.
Witnesses said a woman paced the platform and talked to herself Thursday evening shortly before pushing the man as the 11-car train entered the station. The 46-year-old man’s body was pinned under the second car after it came to a stop.
The woman made “statements implicating herself in the death of Sunando Sen,” Paul Browne, the New York Police Department’s chief spokesman, said earlier. Security video showed a person running from the scene.
Menendez was identified Saturday afternoon in a lineup, Browne said. She was recognized earlier in the day on a street in Brooklyn by a passer-by who called 911, the police spokesman said. The caller said she resembled the woman in the video.
“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,” said Brown, the district attorney. “The victim was allegedly shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself. Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant’s actions can never be tolerated by a civilized society.”
It was not clear Saturday evening whether Menendez had obtained an attorney.
Sen, of Queens, owned a shop called New Amsterdam Copies and was a graphic designer for posters, said Ar Suman, Sen’s roommate.
In early December, Ki-Suck Han, 58, was shoved onto the tracks in a Times Square station as a train approached.
Naeem Davis, 30, a homeless man, has been charged with second-degree murder in that case.
CNN
12 Comments to “Woman Charged in NYC Subway Platform Death”
December 29, 2012 at 5:05 PM
WELL AT LEAST SHE HAD A REASON.
December 30, 2012 at 4:58 PM
Excuse. Like the sorry excuse for a human being you are.
December 31, 2012 at 3:44 AM
its a joke
December 29, 2012 at 5:55 PM
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December 29, 2012 at 6:43 PM
La sopa
December 29, 2012 at 7:19 PM
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December 30, 2012 at 12:49 AM
she's a beaner……..WOW THEY ARE EVERYWHERE DOING CRIME! COAST TO COAST!…..LMFAO AT THESE ANIMALS!
December 30, 2012 at 7:20 AM
I raised you better than this!!!
December 30, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Last time i checked it was the filthy white trash americans committing the crimes. Lets not forget the honky who killed the innocent children in Connecticut. When do you hear of a beaner doing a crime like that?
December 30, 2012 at 5:00 PM
When do you hear of a beaner doing a crime like that?"_________________________________ In Mexico loser.
December 30, 2012 at 6:59 PM
Well no shit!!!
December 30, 2012 at 1:44 AM
@Mark, a man lost his life, and all you can focus this womans ethnicicty… So many mass shootings going on and If I can remember none of those shooters were "Beaners" as you like to call them. There are both good and bad people in the world and people like you and your racist comments do not make the world a better place. I pray to god that you do not have children only because I am certain you will raise them to be just as ignorant as you are. Rest in Peace Sunando Sen
December 30, 2012 at 10:28 AM
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