NY - Michelle Go, 40, pushed by homeless man onto subway tracks, Times Square station, 15 Jan 2022

[imstilla.grandma]

The incident happened on the southbound R train platform at Broadway and 42nd Street just after 9:30 a.m., according to the New York Police Department. Officers found 40-year-old Michelle Go lying on the tracks, unconscious with trauma to her body, police said. EMS personnel pronounced her dead at the scene.

Police said Simon Martial turned himself in shortly after. Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the attack was unprovoked, adding that there was no apparent interaction between the suspect and victim.

“This was a senseless, absolutely senseless, act of violence,” Sewell said.

Martial, 61, had another encounter with another woman at the station before the fatal attack, Assistant Chief Jason Wilcox said. The first woman reported Martial “got in her face,” Wilcox said, making her fear for her safety. The woman said she thought he was going to push her onto the tracks, so she walked away. As she left, Martial pushed the second woman onto the tracks, Wilcox said.

Sewell confirmed that the victim of the fatal attack was Asian, but the first woman Martial confronted was not. Sewell said police are “investigating all avenues” and would update on any potential hate crime investigation.

Martial is known to police and has reports against him, including three other emotionally disturbed incidents. Wilcox said he was on parole at one point, and did have a parole warrant, which police are looking into. The NYPD listed Martial as being homeless.

Police said Martial is being charged with second-degree murder.

When asked why he pushed the victim onto the train’s path, he told members of the media, “I’m God … You stole my ******* planet.”

Mayor Eric Adams said the attack highlighted the need to address mental health in the city. He mentioned Kendra’s Law — a law that requires those who cannot take care of themselves to take medication — during a conference Friday.

“We want to continue to highlight … how imperative it is that people receive the right mental health services, particularly on our subway system,” Adams said.
Woman pushed onto subway tracks, killed at Times Square station

 

[realanastasia]

Sad to see so little has chaged since the above-referenced crime which inspired “Kendra’s Law.” Rest peacefully, Ms. Go.

A Horrific Crime on the Subway Led to Kendra’s Law. Years Later, Has It Helped? (Published 2018)

 

[Wild Rose]

No words.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The accused Times Square subway psycho apparently wanted to make sure he killed his victim — waiting to push her onto the tracks just as the train was entering the station, an eyewitness told The Post on Sunday.

Maria Coste-Webber said she was standing just feet away when homeless ex-con Simon Martial showed no emotion as he shoved tragic victim Michelle Alyssa Go, 40, in front of the train Saturday.

“[Go] was about a foot and a half away from the end of the platform waiting for the train, and he was about 3 feet behind her,” Coste-Webber recalled. “He pushed her at the same time the train was coming, like he timed it.

“He pushed her right in front of the train, and then she vanished as the train passed.
Ex-con held in Times Square subway shove death timed train's arrival, witness says

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Michelle Alyssa Go: Simon Martial Accused of Pushing Woman | Heavy.com

 

[PrairieWind]

That is just horrifying! That poor woman! And I can't even imagine the nightmares of the people that witnessed it.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Times Square subway shove suspect unfit to stand trial, court official says

 

[JerseyGirl]

And again:

Man Charged in Fatal Subway Push Deemed Unfit for Trial

 

[ifindedout]

Homeless man who fatally shoved Michelle Go in NYC subway explodes in court as DA claims he’s now mentally fit for trial

Martial Simon has since passed a mental health evaluation and can now face murder charges in the January 2022 slaying that shook the city, prosecutors said in Manhattan Supreme Court.

nypost.com

The homeless man accused of fatally shoving Michelle Go into an oncoming subway train in Times Square exploded in Manhattan court Tuesday — after prosecutors argued he has been deemed mentally fit to stand trial.

Martial Simon — who was locked up at a maximum-security state psychiatric facility on Wards Island two years ago — has since passed a mental health evaluation and can now face murder charges in the January 2022 slaying that shook the city, prosecutors said in Manhattan Supreme Court.

But Simon, 63, couldn’t keep his cool during the brief hearing, trying to address Judge Althea Drysdale before snapping “Who are you f–king motherf–ks? God I hate you” as court officers hauled him away.

His defense attorney said the troubled vagrant is still experiencing delusions, including believing aliens will come to “save” him because he is a “supernatural” being.

“He remains in strong belief that the space ships will come and save him as he is supernatural,” lawyer Mitchell Schuman told the judge, citing a staff report from the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on March 27 — just a week before prosecutors wrapped up their mental evaluation.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Justin and Marjorie GoGia Sergovich for The New York Times
By Justin Go
Mr. Go is the father of Michelle Alyssa Go and resides in California.
Written Jan 15, 2023

My family and I must return to New York City to deal with legal, estate and criminal issues related to Michelle’s death, despite the sad memories that the city now evokes. Our grief has been lessened by having met and become friends with the many New Yorkers who knew Michelle.

New York is the place where Michelle built her professional life, made so many friends and, most of all, enjoyed her life. It is because of her that on a regular basis, we as a family travel from our home in California to the city she called home. We hope that the city does not become a place we can only associate with her death. We pray that one day we will again see the New York that nurtured the love that Michelle had for life.

Only now, 365 days later, can I express what Michelle meant to us and how her death continues to affect us. Michelle is not the first daughter that I have lost. My wife and I lost our second daughter, when she was an infant, to crib death, her life cut short before we even knew her. Together they represent a hole in our lives that can never be filled. My wife, my son and I mourn their passing every day.

Michelle was born in 1981, the year that Ed Koch was re-elected mayor of New York after winning both the Republican and Democratic nominations. Michelle was a precocious child, much loved by others and filled with love for all those around her. She had a passion for life, respect for others, dignity and self-respect. Above all, she held faith and hope in the goodness of others. She was then, and remains now, a wondrous child to us.

Michelle spent a third of her life in New York City, studying at the N.Y.U. Stern School of Business and then flourishing at Citibank, Barclays and Deloitte. As a senior manager at Deloitte and selfless volunteer with the New York Junior League, she worked with people from all walks of life, from company leaders to the homeless. The Michelle we knew was dedicated to service, a savior rather than someone who needed to be saved.

Our family was shocked and traumatized to see how quickly news of Michelle’s death spread, but we were overcome by how others saw her and knew her only by her death. The Michelle we knew was a high school cheerleader, always smiling and up for adventure; she was the very definition of being alive. Michelle should be remembered for how she lived, not for how she died.

Michelle’s death was a call to action for many, including those who see the crime Martial Simon committed as an example of ongoing anti-Asian hate. The grief from our loss engulfs the indignities of past discrimination we have encountered. We do not have all the answers, and we may never know whether her death was motivated by racial animus. Legally, this may not matter, given that her attacker has been found mentally unfit to stand trial. But the uncertainty over Martial Simon’s mental state and the necessary but prolonged legal process only heighten our pain. As her parents, we know that no family should ever lose a child in this way nor suffer the endless anger, grief, despair and now numbness that we have felt and continue to feel one year later.

Worse, I now have experienced seeing my daughter, my family and myself in the news. My Michelle was emblazoned on a Times Square electronic billboard for the world to see at a rally on Jan. 18, 2022. Our family holiday photo is in newspapers and on the television newscasts. Our lives have been changed forever.

I once thought that hatred and murder were maladies that affected only other people. Now my family are those other people. Murder has stained our family history.

If Michelle had died of Covid or cancer, my family and I would have still been overcome with grief. But we could possibly come to terms with, somehow understand and perhaps eventually accept that kind of loss.
But knowing that Michelle was murdered by being shoved in front of an oncoming train is unacceptable. That is not a fitting ending for a woman who shared the best of herself with others.

Opinion | I Am Michelle Go’s Father. I Am Marking Her Death Where She Lived. (Published 2023)

We pray that one day we see the New York that nurtured the love that Michelle had for life.

www.nytimes.com