A homeless woman living at a Brooklyn shelter was criminally charged on June 6 with attempted murder for shoving an 18-year-old high school girl onto the tracks in a Woodhaven subway station on Monday morning.
Shemecca Wise, 26, was arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge Wanda Licitra on a charge of attempted murder in the second degree and attempted assault in the first degree.
According to the charges, on June 5, between 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., Wise pushed Sarah Arias off the platform and onto the tracks at the 75th Street-Elderts Lane J subway station. The victim was able to get off the tracks and pull herself back onto the platform just as the J train arrived. She suffered a laceration and substantial knee pain, according to the charges.
Wise was apprehended by the NYPD at a homeless shelter in Brooklyn.
“New Yorkers depend on public transportation to get safely to and from work and school,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “We cannot allow our subway stations to become places to fear.”
Judge Licitra ordered Wise held on $25,000. If convicted on the attempted murder charge, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
