The night of incident
May 20, 2015 By Christian Murray
The woman who pushed a man to his death at the 40th Street subway station in December 2012 has been sentenced to 24 years prison, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Erika Mendendez, 33, who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in March, shoved Sunnando Sen, 46, in front of a Queens-bound 7 train while he was waiting for the train’s arrival at around 8 pm on December 27.
Menendez, who was talking to herself on the platform prior to the incident, approached Sen from behind and pushed him onto the tracks as a train was pulling into the station.
Sen was struck by the train and died of multiple blunt force trauma.
Linda Santini-Tripodis, the owner of Merit Group & Associates who was by the station at the time, said: “I heard the train screech as it was stopping and then heard this loud scream. I’m never going to forget that scream for as long as I live.”
Menendez was caught by the police in Brooklyn two days after the incident.
“The defendant committed what is every subway commuter’s worst nightmare – being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train. The victim was shoved from behind and had no chance to defend himself.”
