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An 83-year-old Air Force veteran has died after being pushed onto the tracks at a subway station in New York City earlier this month, upgrading the charges against the alleged attacker to murder, authorities said Thursday.
Veteran Richard Williams was one of two strangers attacked on the tracks in what investigators have called a random act of violence. He was hospitalized following the March 8 incident with serious head injuries.
Before pushing Williams, the suspect allegedly shoved 30-year-old John Rodriguez onto the tracks. Video of the incident, obtained by NewsNation, shows a bystander briefly scuffling with the suspect before turning to check on the two men. The bystander is then seen extending a hand to the two victims.
The suspect is 34-year-old Bairon Alexander Posada-Hernandez, a Honduran national, who has previously been deported multiple times. Police arrested Posada-Hernandez at a homeless shelter in Brooklyn on March 10. He will be arraigned on the murder charge on March 30. --->READ MORE HERE
The beloved 83-year-old US Air Force veteran who was randomly shoved onto subway tracks by an illegal migrant in Manhattan has died from his injuries — and his alleged killer has been charged with murder.
Grandfather and cancer survivor Richard Williams on March 17 tragically succumbed to injuries he suffered nearly 10 days earlier when he was pushed off the platform while waiting for a train at the Lexington Avenue-63rd Station, authorities and sources said.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday upgraded the charges against his alleged attacker, Honduran national Bairon Hernandez — a “serial criminal” with a lengthy rap sheet of at least 15 charges, according to the feds.
Jhon Pena, 30, was also allegedly shoved onto the tracks by Hernandez during the March 8 Upper East Side subway rampage — but ignored his own injuries and heroically helped pull Williams back onto the platform moments before a train rolled into the station.
Chilling cellphone footage of the attack, apparently shot by Pena from the train tracks, showed the suspect casually strolling along the platform after pushing both men onto the subway bed.
Pena’s mother, Claudia Pena, told The Post on Thursday his son didn’t know Williams had died.
“I’m in shock. It pained me to hear that he’s gone,” she said. “I wish he gets to heaven and rest in peace.”
Hernandez, 34, was arrested March 10 at a homeless shelter and initially charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, assault and reckless endangerment.
He was indicted on upgraded charges of second-degree murder following Williams’ death, and was set to be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on March 30, according to DA Alvin Bragg’s office.
Prosecutors had said Williams was left “brain-dead,” following the harrowing unprovoked attack.
One of this three daughters, Debbie Williams, told The Post days after the attack her father, a retired US Air Force pilot, was not likely to pull through.
The medical examiner declared his death a homicide.
Williams “loved the streets of New York” and traveling in the transit system. He’d been happily married for 55 years and had just won a five-year battle with prostate cancer six months ago, giving him a new lease on life, his family has said. --->READ MORE HERE
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