A deranged homeless man who allegedly shoved a woman’s head into a moving subway train in Manhattan last month has been indicted for attempted murder, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
Kamal Semrade, 39, who was living at a shelter near LaGuardia Airport in Queens, has been charged with one count of attempted murder following a terrifying attack of a 35-year-old Jackson Heights woman at the 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue station at around 6:05 a.m. on Sunday May 21. The victim, Emine Yilmaz Oszoy, was on her way to work when her head was smashed into a train.
“Kamal Semrade now stands indicted on Attempted Murder for an alleged unprovoked attack on a straphanger,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement. “My thoughts are with the victim, whose life is forever changed, and her loved ones.”
According to court documents, Semrade boarded the same E-train at Roosevelt Avenue in Queens as Oszoy, and exited the train at the same subway stop at 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue.
He then followed Oszoy, according to authorities, before grabbing her head with both hands and shoving her head with all his force into the moving subway car, which was accelerating to leave the station. The brutal attack was without provocation.
Oszoy’s face and head hit the train and she was flung back onto the platform, fracturing her spine. Despite spinal surgery, she remains paralyzed from the shoulders down, according to authorities.
Following the attack, Semrade exited the station before returning to the shelter in Queens that evening.
The following day the NYPD released surveillance photos showing Semrade on the platform holding a cup of coffee. He was identified by shelter employees and arrested two days after the attack.
A GoFundMe for Oszoy, an artist from Turkey, was launched shortly after the attack to help her raise funds for her six-digit medical expenses. So far, $264,000 has been raised.
Semrade is currently on Rikers Island and is being held without bail. He has also been charged with one count of assault in the first degree.
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