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Suspect Charged With Murder In "Unprovoked" Fatal Shoving Of Woman Onto Times Square Subway Tracks
By
David Cruz
Published Jan 15, 2022
Modified Jan 16, 2022
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Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By
David Cruz
Published Jan 15, 2022
Modified Jan 16, 2022
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Mayor Eric Adams said at a press briefing Saturday that the NYPD will continue to ensure the transit system is safe following an incident where a woman was shoved onto the subway tracks and toward the path of an incoming train at the Times Square subway station.
The victim, an Asian woman in her 40s and living in New York City, was on the southbound platform of the busy station when she was suddenly shoved into the Q/R tracks by the suspect in an "unprovoked" incident, according to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell at a news conference Saturday. A Q train arriving into the station hit the woman, and emergency responders pronounced her dead at the scene.
The victim was identified as Michelle Go, an Upper West Side resident.
The suspect--who police say was known by officers and is homeless--quickly turned himself in to investigators at a local transit precinct. Investigators determined the suspect, identified as Simon Martial, 67, had harassed another woman, who was not Asian, before approaching the victim who was killed.
Martial was charged with second-degree murder.
"This is a safe system because of the job of the transit officers have carried out," Adams said at the briefing inside the Times Square station. "We're going to continue to enhance, to deal with the mental health crisis that we have in our system."
The incident came just over a week after Adams, alongside Governor Kathy Hochul, released a plan to improve safety across the system. Adams, who ran on a platform of reducing crime, maintained the transit system is safe, but said there are several mentally ill people in the system still not receiving attention.
"I believe our system is going to be safer because of the plan as we constantly enhance it. We must be safe on the system. I use the system, I use it a lot," Adams said.
Hochul responded to the tragedy, saying in a tweet that she will "continue working with [Mayor Eric Adams] to ensure everyone feels safe in our subway system." At the news conference Saturday, Acting MTA Chair Janno Lieber said overall crime within the system is at a 30-year low.
While Adams said the plan will help the city's mentally ill often found inside the subway system, he stressed it's unclear whether the suspect was mentally disturbed.
The incident disturbed several lawmakers, many of whom are of Asian descent. At the news conference, Adams was joined by U.S. Rep. Grace Meng of Queens, Council Members Linda Lee and Julie Won, and State Senator John Liu.
"This has been a really tough year for the Asian-American community," Meng said. "But specifically in the last few weeks, we have seen, attacks on a Sikh American, a cab driver, a Korean American man who was trying to be a Good Samaritan and was attacked; a Korean American elderly woman in my district in Forest Hills less than 36 hours ago, and today Asian-American woman."
The incident was just as difficult for the train operator, according to Canella Gomez, vice president of the union representing subway operators and conductors.
"I have spoken to the train operator. He is at Bellevue Hospital receiving the medical assistance he needs and deserves to make sure he is okay," Gomez said in a statement. "With a new Mayor, it is time to come up with a real plan that works to deal with the homeless situation in the subway system."
Stephen Nessen contributed to this report.
Tagged
we the commuters
times square subway station
MTA
subway crime
Time square
eric adams
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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