Woman Gets 24 Years For Shoving Man Off Subway Track In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A woman was sentenced to 24 years in prison Wednesday, after admitting to shoving a Hindu man off a Queens subway platform to his death in an attack motivated by religious animus.
Erika Menendez, 33, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to manslaughter for killing Sunando Sen, 46, in late December 2012 in Queens.
She pushed Sen off a No. 7 train platform at the 40th Street-Lowery Street station in Sunnyside. An oncoming train crushed him.
Menendez reportedly told authorities, "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," according to the criminal complaint.
She later said: "There is no reason. I just pushed him in front of the train because I thought it would be cool," according to the Queens district attorney's office.
But the woman's mother said shortly after the attack that her daughter was mentally disturbed, off her medicine and not properly monitored.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown called the killing ``every subway commuter's worst nightmare.''
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