An 83-year-old Air Force veteran died after he was shoved onto subway tracks in Manhattan, and the Manhattan District Attorney's office has indicted the suspect, Bairon Hernandez, on murder and assault charges. The office said Hernandez was arrested on Mar. 10 and identified him as a native of Honduras.
Richard Williams was walking with a cane at the Lexington Avenue-63rd Street station on Mar. 8 when prosecutors say Hernandez pushed him from behind with both hands. Williams suffered a brain bleed, never regained consciousness, and died on Mar. 17, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
The office said Hernandez first shoved a 30-year-old man onto the tracks before turning to Williams in a separate, unprovoked attack. The younger victim survived with a shoulder injury, while Williams was taken to a hospital in critical condition before his death, according to People.
Hernandez is charged with second-degree murder, attempted first-degree assault, and second-degree assault. People reported that he had 15 prior charges, including assault, domestic violence, obstruction of police, drug offenses, and weapons offenses, and that he had been deported four times before the subway attack.
The case comes amid a wave of recent transit violence in New York City. In January, police said a stranger shoved a 35-year-old man onto the tracks at a Brooklyn station in a separate random attack, and the victim survived, the New York Post reported.
Earlier in the year, another subway attack drew attention when a 72-year-old man was shoved against an oncoming train in the Bronx on New Year's Day, according to police reports. More recently, police also investigated a March hate-crime attack on a subway train in Brooklyn in which a man was punched and targeted with antisemitic remarks.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office said the Upper East Side case is being prosecuted in the New York State Supreme Court. District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the attack was unprovoked and that violence in the transit system would be prosecuted, as per the Manhattan DA.
