A hate-crime charge in fatal subway push

Riders await a train at the station in Queens where an Indian man was pushedto his death. AP
Riders await a train at the station in Queens where an Indian man was pushedto his death. AP
Riders await a train at the station in Queens where an Indian man was pushedto his death. APGALLERY: Riders await a train at the station in Queens where an Indian…
By Colleen Long, Associated Press
Posted: December 31, 2012

NEW YORK - A woman who told police she shoved a man to his death off a subway platform into the path of a train because she has hated Muslims since 9/11 and thought he was one was charged Saturday with murder as a hate crime, prosecutors said.

Erika Menendez was charged in the death of Sunando Sen, who was crushed by a 7 train in Queens on Thursday night, the second time this month a commuter has died in such a nightmarish fashion.

Menendez, 31, was awaiting arraignment on the charge Saturday, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said. She could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted. She was in custody and couldn't be reached for comment, and it was unclear if she had an attorney.

Menendez, who was arrested after a tip by a passerby who saw her on a street and thought she looked like the woman in a surveillance video released by police, admitted shoving Sen, who was pushed from behind, authorities said.

"I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up," Menendez told police, according to the district attorney's office.

Sen was from India, but it's unclear if he was Muslim or Hindu. The 46-year-old lived in Queens and ran a printing shop. He was shoved from an elevated platform on the 7 train line, which connects Manhattan and Queens. Witnesses said a muttering woman rose from her seat on a platform bench and pushed him on the tracks as a train entered the station and then ran off.

The two had never met before, authorities said, and witnesses told police they hadn't interacted on the platform.

Police released a sketch and security camera video showing a woman running from the station.

Menendez was arrested by police earlier Saturday after a passerby on a Brooklyn street spotted her and called 911. Police confirmed her identity and took her into custody, where she made statements implicating herself in the crime, police spokesman Paul Browne said.

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