Police ID man pushed to death at NY subway station

Updated 10:27 PM ET

NEW YORK New York City police have identified a man they say was shoved to his death in front of a subway train by a woman.

Police said Friday that Sunando Sen was pushed from the platform the night before. The 46-year-old Sen was from India and lived alone in Queens.

Investigators identified him through a smartphone and a prescription pill bottle he was carrying when he was struck by a 7 train. His family in India has been notified.

Police are searching homeless shelters and psychiatric units for the woman believed to have pushed him. Witnesses say she was mumbling before she shoved him without warning.

As police sought on Friday to locate the unidentified woman, Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged residents to keep the second fatal subway shove in the city this month in perspective. The news of the horrific death of Sen came as the mayor touted drops in the city's annual homicide and shooting totals.

"It's a very tragic case, but what we want to focus on today is the overall safety in New York," Bloomberg told reporters following a police academy graduation.

The incident happened around 8 p.m. Thursday on the elevated tracks at the 40th Street Station on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, CBS Station WCBS reports.

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Search on for suspect in 2nd subway push death

Police said witnesses saw the woman pacing and mumbling on the platform before taking a seat alone on a wooden bench. Then, as the train approached the station, witnesses said she suddenly shot forward, shoving the unsuspecting man onto the tracks, directly into the path of an oncoming Number 7 train.

The New York Police Department released surveillance video of the suspect running away from the scene. Police said the woman raced down two flights of stairs after the attack and then disappeared onto the crowded street.

Detectives described her as a heavyset Hispanic woman in her 20s, approximately 5-foot-5, with blonde or brown hair. She was last seen wearing a blue, white and grey ski jacket and grey and red Nike sneakers.

The medical examiner said Friday that an autopsy found that Sen died from head trauma.

Commuters on Friday expressed concern over subway safety.

"It's just a really sad commentary on the world and on human beings, period," said Howard Roth, who takes the subway daily.

He said the deadly push reminded him, "the best thing is what they tell you — don't stand near the edge, and keep your eyes open."

The incident marked the second deadly subway push this month. On December 3, police said 58-year-old Ki Suck Han was pushed to his death by 30-year-old Naeem Davis. The two were seen on cell phone video arguing just moments before Han was pushed to his death.

In the most recent incident, witnesses said the victim never encountered his attacker and never saw what was coming.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at (800) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto Crime Stoppers or texting tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

[THEDUDETOLERATES]

Instant awareness of any tragedy... any time, any place, with photos, with video, with sound... has certainly impacted our society. And this instantly available knowledge... with all of its impact and potential foibles... is a Constitutionally protected right.

Knowledge is a gift! But this amazing gift of knowledge has been coupled with a diluted ability for us to personally impact the safety of our environment, and this can be frustrating and depressing.

I suppose that reading the comments of other readers, seeing that people care... and developing a thick, rational skin... are steps we can take to help mitigate our angst.

Or we could stick to filtering our news so that we only see the good stuff? Nah... too boring! Just ban the subways...

[Reality-is-Good]

Just put a cheap motorized gate in that only opens after the train stops.

[THEDUDETOLERATES]

Well, I think the problem is that if it's too cheap, people could be injured by a motorized gate... so you'd have to monitor it carefully... or it could simply fail. Though this is a good idea, I'm guessing that a fence that could adequately do the job would be too expensive right now. But, yeah, this certainly makes sense; anything to get in the way of a direct push...

[alimech42]

Just one more example how America has fallen behind other countries in technology and progress. Solar power, medical care, 'bullet' trains, gun control....and on and on........

The only thing we excel at is Military Spending!

[promontorium]

You're right, incredibly stupid liberal! You can't be satirized because you're so radically stupid you actually brought up gun control about someone pushing someone else.

[UpsetVoter]

Again we are missing the point. We keep looking at the tools of violence and ignore the cause. Why is society so desensitized to the welfare of others that people are willing to injure or take the life of another person? What changed? We have always had tools of violence. It is the mental attitudes that have changed. The life or welfare of others appears to have little importance to many in today's society. It is sad.

[pammmmmm]

Your right. We really need to hold human life in higher regard.

[promontorium]

@RZARC2 Brilliant deduction, master investigator. I'm positive a crazy homeless woman was influenced to push a man in front of a train because cable TV and the internet reports 24/7. What international crime will you solve next from your basement?

[kingjoker101]

ok seriously stop with the shut down subway system , for one that sytem has been there for over 100 years and has greatly helped new york become what it is today , 2 killings and it needs to e shut down ? shut up , one how are over 1,000's of people going to get where they need to go quickly , buses run but so far and they are crowded enough , and traffic is to much as it is , people just need to adress mental health in everyone , as well as bring back the monitors who use to watch the tracks for people who have fallen in the way , in this case there was no time to save him , but shutting down mta is gunna do nuthing . hasnt been enough deaths to do so

[UpsetVoter]

Their arguments are silly but I understand their point. Society today selectively blames the tools that were used to do violence rather than look for the root cause of why someone is willing to do these horrible acts. When someone is shot they always blame the gun which is just as logical as blaming the subway for this incident.

In both situations we need to look at mental health and why people have so little empathy for others. The guns and subways were here for over 100 years. What is new? What changed?

[bobnjersey]

[When someone is shot they always blame the gun which is just as logical as blaming the subway for this incident. ]
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it's not logical at all.

if the conductor deliberately directed his train at passengers ... with specific intent to kill ... which he cannot and did not do ... it would be similar.

it's as logical as saying 40,000+ people die in car accidents ... but the key word is accident. they're not deliberate uses of cars to kill people ... they're accidents.

[WWIIWWII]

Bloomberg needs to shut down the Subway system before it becomes a killing field.

[djseavy]

I understand the sarcasm and dark humor; I'd done it myself. What really concerns me - other than the act of throwing someone in front of a train is this: Being bombarded daily with news of violence, it's becoming so predictable and normalized that many of us don't react in shock and horror. We've also become so polarized over gun rights/gun control that we're losing sight of the underlying issue, and that is: What is causing all of this? How have we gone from a relatively civilized society, to one where anything goes and someone else's life is worth nothing? Politicians, in their unending effort to score points with the public, will scramble to enact new and ineffective laws to supposedly prevent things like this. Laws prevent very little in many cases; they just provide punishment for breaking them. We need to forget politics for the moment and figure out how to stop all the violence.

[THEDUDETOLERATES]

This is so true... thank you for saying it so nicely! This made my morning...

[promontorium]

We haven't. You need the ability to put things into perspective. We have billions of people on Earth, over 300 million in the US alone, and the media selectively reports almost every incident of various crimes happening everywhere. You assume because you hear of 2 out of 7 billion people getting pushed in front of a train that this makes it a growing and scary trend. It's 2 out of 7 billion people. Or, maybe 2 out of 9 million. Still nothing.

None of this is new either. Reporters have been hyping bad things since "news" began. Henry David Thoreau complained about reading nothing but bad news from around the world at his morning paper. That was over 160 years ago.

I do however agree with your points that the government's responses are ineffective. Laws will not improve our society, and our society does have problems, but it takes a social movement, not a legal one to change it, because people have to believe in it for it to work.

[WelderBob]

Dear Mr.Bloom-Bungle
Along with strict soda control(Big-Glups),,super tough gun control,it is past time for you to ban subway trains.
It has gotten out of control.
And by all means continue to cut funding for mental health facilitates,drug rehab and anything else that might help the mentally disturbed.

[THEDUDETOLERATES]

"Okay... listen up, people! We are about to go down to the subway... does everybody have a subway buddy? Good. You must watch your buddy's back at at all times... and vice-verse. Remember your training, and you will make it out of this subway alive..."

What a world, what a world...

[Zman07]

If he was dressed foreign, it wouldn't surprise me if the idiot woman thought he was a muslim.

[GoGoUsa]

Everyone in New York is Foreign, what's your point?

[bobnjersey]

[Everyone in New York is Foreign, what's your point?]
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wow ... that's a pretty ignorant statement.

the rest of the country is made up of native american indians?