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Update: Suspect Charged With Hate Crime For Fatally Pushing Man In Front Of Oncoming Subway
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 29, 2012
Modified Dec 29, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 29, 2012
Modified Dec 29, 2012
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[Update Below]The suspect who police believe shoved a man onto the subway tracks in Queens on Thursday night is now in custody. Cops have picked up a woman who was wearing the same jacket seen in the surveillance video of the night 46-year-old Sunando Sen was fatally shoved into the path of a 7 train at the northbound platform of the 40th Street and Queens Boulevard elevated station in Sunnyside. According to police, "Detectives have in custody a woman who has made statements implicating herself in the death of Sunando Sen in the 108th Pct on Thursday night."
The woman, who has not been charged yet, was picked up at the corner of Empire Boulevard and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, according to the Post. The News says police were tipped off about the 31-year-old woman, and was questioned by detectives at the 112th Precinct stationhouse in Forest Hills.
According to friends, Sen had recently fulfilled his longtime ambition of opening his own business, a copy shop on the Upper West Side. “Seven days a week he worked,” his friend, Ar Suman, told the News. “He wanted to be his own boss...He was very excited to have his own business.” You can see surveillance video of the shoving below.
Update: The suspect has now been identified as 31-year-old Bronx resident Erika Menendez. Police say that Menendez was recognized this morning on a street in Brooklyn by a passer-by who called 911. He said she resembled the woman in the video of the suspect fleeing the scene Thursday night.
According to the Times, she will be charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime. A law enforcement official told them that Menendez had “told the cops it was an act against Muslims,” and cited the Sept. 11 attacks.
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7 train
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fatal push
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subway
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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