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Man Arrested After Shoving Woman Towards Oncoming R Train
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 13, 2010
Modified Aug 13, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 13, 2010
Modified Aug 13, 2010
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A fashion merchandise creative director is relieved to be alive after a man shoved her into an oncoming subway train at the 28th Street R station on Wednesday. Ute Linhart hit the train and then the impact threw her back onto the uptown platform; she told the Post, "As the impact happened, I'm thinking, 'I'm going to be dead.' Then I realized that I was in so much pain, I couldn't possibly be dead."
The incident occurred around 8:00 p.m. when Linhart was waiting for an uptown train. According to the Post, Jose Rojas, a cook at Cipriani, was "on the platform pointing in a menacing gun-like gesture at several other straphangers when he made a beeline for the victim." She says, "He stood next to me for a few seconds and stared at my face. He looked insane." Then he allegedly pushed her into the train's path. When she was thrown back onto the platform—suffering suffering ribs, a broken left arm, and right cheek—another person waiting for a train grabbed her, softening her blow.
Others stopped Rojas from leaving the station.
When the cops asked Rojas his name, he allegedly answered, "My name is Osama bin Laden, f--k you!" and was taken to Bellevue because he was so drunk. He was charged with attempted murder and assault, though his lawyer argued that the attempted murder charge was too much, "At no point is my client actually identified as the individual who pushed this woman into the train."
Linhart, who is still at Bellevue, told the Post, "I'm never going to go down [to the subway] there again. I'd rather pay for a cab or walk or take the bus. I wasn't even standing near the edge. I was a few feet away."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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