Police in New York City arrested a man who allegedly pushed an Asian woman in front of an oncoming subway train Saturday morning, NYPD said in a news release.
The man, identified as 61-year-old Simon Martial, was charged with second-degree murder, NYPD said. He turned himself in to police less than an hour after the incident and was taken into custody.
Police said 40-year-old Michelle Alyssa Go died after she was pushed onto the tracks of the oncoming train at Times Square 42nd Street subway station.
On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told the media the subway system is safe and the battleground is the “perception of fear” surrounding them. “When you see homeless individuals with mental health issues not being attended to and given the proper services, that adds to the perception of fear,” Adams said, speaking to a scrum of media after an unrelated press event. He reiterated the proper transit security plan was implemented at the station where the incident occurred.
“I keep continuing to say: this is a horrific incident, we lost a New Yorker, but we don’t see how many lives we saved because of a proper plan like that,” Adams continued.
He also said the city will continue to modify and enhance the system “until we can ensure every passenger on this system is safe.”
During a Saturday briefing, Chief of Transit Kathleen M. O’Reilly said there was a “robust” plan in place with six officers assigned within that station and on the trains as part of their transit overlay. “Unfortunately these instances do occur but they are rare but this one is very harrowing and disturbing and it was unpreventable by our officers,” O’Reilly said.
“Today, a woman entered the subway station, like any New Yorker, just trying to get where she needed to go,” Adams said Saturday on Twitter. “New Yorkers deserve to feel safe while riding mass transit. It’s why I stood with Gov. Kathy Hochul to announce the Safe Options Support teams.”
In a news conference earlier this month, Adams and Hochul announced an initiative to address both public safety in the subway system by sending more officers to inspect subways and stations as well as the homelessness crisis, by deploying trained mental health personnel across the city to support individuals who are homeless.
US Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York, noted the incident comes as attacks on Asian New Yorkers “continue to be on the rise.” Meng, whose congressional district includes Queens, has called for better policies around safety on mass transit and mental health and social services.
In a statement on Saturday, Jo-Ann Yoo, executive director of the Asian American Federation, said Go’s death is a “reminder that the fear of anti-Asian violence in our community is well-founded.
“It is imperative that New York City implements proactive, community-based solutions that prevent these crimes from ever happening in the first place,” she added. (Source: The-CNN-Wire/cbs58.
