A woman who admitted to pushing a Hindu man to his death on a New York City subway track said she did it because of her hatred for Muslims and Hindus since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, police said.
Erika Menendez, 33, was sentenced Wednesday to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for killing Sunando Sen in December 2012, a local NBC affiliate reported.
According to the criminal complaint, Menendez was seen talking to herself and pacing back and forth on a No. 7 train platform at 40th Street and Queens Boulevard, NBC reported.
As a train entered the station, the complaint says Menendez approached Sen from behind and shoved him onto the tracks. Sen was crushed by the train and died of multiple blunt force trauma, NBC reported.
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,” the complaint said.
Judge Gregory Lasak on Wednesday called it an unconscionable act.
“That’s a horrible way to die,” he said. “You picked out Mr. Sen and you stood behind him and you followed him.”
Menendez’s lawyer, Joseph DeFelice, cited his client’s history with mental illness and said her statements about targeting Muslims were out of character, the New York Daily News reported.
“It’s due to her own mental instability,” Mr. DeFelice said. “Whenever she fails to take her medication she turns to self-medicate [with drugs]. That’s what leads her to these aggressive acts.”
The judge reprimanded Menendez for not following the treatment prescribed by the city’s psychiatric professionals around the time of the crime, the Daily News reported.
“You should have taken that medicine,” he said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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