A homeless man accused of shoving a woman into an arriving Manhattan train on Monday said the voices in his head chose her as his victim.
Transit cops cuffed 26-year-old Markeese Brazelis at the 181st Street station on the A line not long after he allegedly pushed the woman at the preceding stop, the 175th Street station, in Washington Heights.
Police sources said the victim, a 23-year-old woman, was waiting for an arriving Inwood-bound A train at the 175th Street station when Brazelis allegedly approached her from behind and shoved her into the train as it pulled in.
The woman bounced off the train, cops said, but suffered serious bruises to her knees, hands and shoulders. EMS rushed her to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital for treatment.
Brazelis, meanwhile, fled the scene — but officers assigned to Transit District 3 apprehended him a short time later at the 181st Street stop. He was brought to the bureau’s Harlem office at the 145th Street station for questioning, and subsequently charged.
As he faced his perp walk Monday night, reporters asked why he did it. Brazelis allegedly said he chose the woman for a “reason,” and claimed voices in his head told him to do it.
Brazelis is no stranger to the criminal justice system. Police sources report that he has a previous arrest for sexual assault after inappropriately touching a woman’s rear end. He was also cuffed for walking along the subway track.
“It’s beyond comprehension how this menace can be arrested two different times last week only to be turned loose to cause more mayhem,” MTA Chief Security Officer Michael Kemper said in a Jan. 27 statement. “When will the courthouses get the message? This can’t continue.”
Brazelis now faces prosecution on charges of assault and public endangerment.
