A 31-year-old Bronx woman has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the death of a man shoved in front of a subway train, Queens prosecutors said Saturday.
District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the woman as Erika Menendez. She was awaiting arraignment.
"(She) said in sum and substance '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,'" the prosecutor said in a statement.
The victim, Sunando Sen, grew up in a Hindu family, his roommate said.
Witnesses said a woman paced the platform and talked to herself Thursday evening shortly before pushing the man as the 11-car train entered the station. The 46-year-old man's body was pinned under the second car after it came to a stop.
The woman made "statements implicating herself in the death of Sunando Sen," Paul Browne, the New York Police Department's chief spokesman, said earlier. Security video showed a person running from the scene.