The woman accused of fatally shoving a man onto the subway tracks in Queens last week allegedly attacked a correction officer while she was in the hospital on Monday. According to the Times, Erika Menendez, 31, became agitated after she saw herself on the television news in the emergency room at Elmhurst Hospital Center. “She was emerging from a bathroom when she became upset at seeing herself on the television, and she lashed out at the officer,” said Robin Campbell, a spokesman for the New York City Correction Department. “She pulled the officer’s hair and, in the process, hit her face.”
Menendez was handcuffed at the time of the assault; another officer intervened, there were no injuries, and no charges will be filed against Menendez, who was transferred to the psychiatric jail ward for women at Elmhurst Hospital. In recent days, there have been multiple reports about Menendez, who may be bipolar, assaulting people prior to her fatal subway shove. She has had at least 14 run-ins with police over the last 12 years, including an incident in which she attacked an ex-boyfriend, and one in which she attacked a neighbor who was taking out his trash.
Menendez allegedly told police she fatally shoved 46-year-old Sunando Sen into the path of a 7 train because she hates "Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.” She has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, and faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty.
