NEW YORK (Transatlantic Today): On Saturday morning in New York City, a woman was thrown in front of an oncoming train.
The incident happened around 9:30 a.m. in a Times Square subway station near 42nd Street and Broadway, according to New York City police.
According to a police spokesperson, the 40-year-old lady was pushed onto the tracks and killed by a northbound R train. At the scene, she was pronounced deceased.
At a press briefing with Mayor Eric Adams at the station, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated the individual suspected of being guilty left the scene but surrendered himself to transit police a short while later.
Anti-Asian racist attacks increased significantly in New York City last year, according to crime records. The NYPD reported late last year that offenses targeting Asians had increased by 361 percent year over year by December 2021.
During the epidemic, anti-Asian acts of violence and incidents have increased across the country.
A second woman told authorities she had been contacted by the man minutes before and was afraid he would push her down the rails.
Simon Martial, 61, was identified as the suspect by police late Saturday night. According to NBC News, Martial, who authorities say is homeless, was booked with second-degree murder. It was unclear if he had a counsel who could speak at the time.
Martial, according to Wilcox, has a criminal record and is now on parole.
Three transit personnel were attacked in different incidents on the same day in September. In May, a group of attackers stabbed and assaulted several passengers on a train in lower Manhattan, and in February, four separate knife attacks — two of them deadly — occurred within the next few hours on a single subway line.
Adams, who has been mayor for two weeks, has expressed concern that fear of danger may cause more people to avoid taking the subway, hurting the city’s economic recovery efforts as it seeks to entice people back to offices, tourism sites, and other destinations.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was planning to put together five teams of social workers and medical specialists to help the city navigate those living on the streets and subways to shelter, housing, and services when she joined Adams last week to discuss the situation of the subways.
