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Subway Shoving Suspect Pleads Not Guilty: "He Attacked Me First"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 6, 2012
Modified Dec 6, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 6, 2012
Modified Dec 6, 2012
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Yesterday, the homeless suspect who was arrested for allegedly fatally shoving a Queens man into the subway tracks in Manhattan on Monday was formally charged with murder in the 2nd degree. Naeem Davis, 30, pleaded not guilty to shoving 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han onto the tracks at the 49th Street N/R/Q station. As he was leaving court, Davis went one further telling reporters, "He attacked me first. He grabbed me."
According to the Post, Davis also claimed he shoved Han onto the tracks after seeing Han brandish something resembling a knife. His legal aid defense lawyer, Stephen Pokart, echoed that statement, saying Han was the aggressor during the confrontation, telling reporters outside court that his client reportedly "was involved in an incident with a man who was drunk and angry."
Han's wife has previously said that she had argued with her husband that morning and that he had a drinking problem. “He was drunk. We had a fight before he left here at 11 a.m. I told him to leave,” she told the Post Monday night. Han was also found with a bottle of vodka on him. Here's a video of Han and Davis in a confrontation before the deadly push:
Video of altercation between alleged subway shover and victim from Gothamist on Vimeo.
Davis bumped into 58-year-old Han just after noon on Monday. “He wouldn’t leave me alone, so I pushed him,” Davis allegedly told investigators. “I saw him get hit by the train,” he added, saying he stayed at the platform after he pushed Han onto the tracks. Prosecutor James Lin brought that up yesterday as well: "The defendant never once offered any aid to the victim as the train approached the platform and in fact, this defendant watched the train hit the victim," Lin said.
The Post has a few more details about Davis: he has more than a dozen arrests for minor offenses (including burglary, breaking into vehicles and peddling), he shaved his dreadlocks after the incident, and that he asked for a copy of the NY Post after seeing his face on it: “Look, I’m on the front page of The Post,” he reportedly said. “Can I get that paper?” They also spoke to Hell’s Kitchen T-shirt vendor Cheikh Diakhate, whose kids often spent time with Davis: “They liked him,” Diakhate said. “When I told them they caught him, they were crying. He’d buy them ice cream; sometimes it was his last five bucks. He was so nice to my kids. I never think...he could do this. I never saw him angry.”
Tagged
death
fatal subway shove
ki-suck han
manhattan
MTA
naeem davis
nypd
subway
subway shoving
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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