Yesterday, the suspect who police believe shoved a man onto the subway tracks in Queens on Thursday night was apprehended and arrested. Erika Menendez, 31, has been charged for fatally shoving 46-year-old Sunando Sen into the path of a 7 train at the northbound platform of the 40th Street and Queens Boulevard elevated station in Sunnyside. Cops say Menendez admitted to the crime, confessing: “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 has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime for the shoving. “The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter’s worst nightmare—being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train," said Queens DA Richard Brown in a release. "The victim was allegedly shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself. Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant’s actions can never be tolerated by a civilized society.”
Menendez was caught after she was recognized Saturday 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. This is how the NY Post described her leaving the 112th Precinct: "She wailed incoherently, contorted her face into what looked like a fiendish grin, and struggled as officers forced her into an unmarked car."
During her arraignment hearing in Queens Criminal Court yesterday, Menendez was laughing so hard that she was visibly shaking. “You’re going to have to have your client stop laughing,” Judge Gia Morris told Menendez's lawyer.
It's already been suggested that Menendez has mental problems, but Brown said he had no information about the defendant’s criminal or mental history. “It will be up to the court to determine if she is fit to stand trial,” he said. Menendez faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty.
