A woman who broke her spine and had her face scarred to the bone after she was pushed into an NYC subway car kept asking ‘am I going to die?’, one witness said.
Emine Ozsoy, 35, is in critical condition after the horrific attack as she was walking on the downtown platforms at Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street stations on her way to work at around 6:05 a.m. on Sunday.
Witness Nancy Marrero, 45, of Long Island City, said she saw the victim walking on a subway platform, doing her hair before she saw a man suddenly grab her head and push her over the side of a departing train.
‘He didn’t even see it coming. With open palms he only bumped his head – not his body – into the train. He just fell, kept spinning because the train kept hitting him,” Marrero told the New York Post.
“He just kept asking me, ‘Am I going to die?’
A GoFundme page for Turkish immigrants living in Jackson Heights described her as a ‘beautiful soul’, and said doctors initially told friends she had little chance of recovering below-the-neck movement.
Emine Ozsoy was pushed into an NYC subway car leaving him in critical condition with a broken spine
Marrero told The Post that Ozsoy immediately said he didn’t know the attacker – or what had just happened after the attack.
“I was like, ‘Do you know him?'” Marrero said.
“He was like, “I don’t even know what’s going on.” I said, “A man just stuck your head in the train.”‘
“He was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t — I don’t even… I can’t even remember what happened.
“You could see the white inside, how bad it was,” said the postal worker of the resulting gash on the woman’s bloody face.
He said, “I don’t feel my arm. I feel they are broken.”
Marrero said the suspect did not appear homeless or dirty-looking. He said the attack traumatized him.
“When I got home that night, I was crying because I kept looking at his face, seeing how he had put it on that train,” Marrero said.
“I was terrified, and my son was scared too when I had to go to work in the morning,” said Marrero.
‘Now I watch my back against whatever I can. I’m traumatized.’
Shiv Patel, a friend who had set up a fundraiser for Ozsoy, wrote that he had gone against all odds to start moving his hands in the hospital one day after the attack.
Patel’s website – which named the victim as Emine Yilmaz – said the cost of her treatment was already in the six figures.
“This fund is in the name of Emine Yilmaz, a kind and beautiful person who was tragically attacked on the New York City subway on her way to work,” Patel wrote.
‘Emine is a source of joy as a friend, colleague and human being. He is artistic, jovial, witty, and, above all, someone we consider family.
Doctors initially told us he had little chance of recovering below-the-neck motion. In just one day, he challenged the prophecy by moving his arm. It’s a big step, but the road to recovery will be long and challenging. He’s a fighter and is already struggling to recover. He will get there, but he needs everyone’s help.
“Her medical expenses have reached the six figures, and any donation will be gratefully accepted with an open heart.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Emine Ozsoy, 35, suffered a broken neck and spine after a man pushed her into a moving subway car on Sunday.
Patel continued: “If you can’t donate, please consider sharing this link to spread the word, or even keep Emine in your thoughts.”
The fundraiser has raised $4,985 of its $200,000 goal.
‘No one should have to face a terrible tragedy, especially while just trying to provide for themselves. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all who have truly taken the time to read this,’ concluded the post.
Ozsoy fell backwards onto the platform after hitting his head on the train, leaving him with severe spinal injuries and a gash to his head, authorities said.
The assailant fled the scene on foot, heading for the Second Avenue exit, and as of Tuesday morning he was still being sought by police.
Police described the suspect as a male between the ages of 30 and 40 and about 5 feet 7 inches tall.
Surveillance photos, released by police late on Sunday, show the alleged attacker wearing a black shirt with white trim, blue jeans and white sneakers.
The man appears to be holding a cup of coffee while standing on the platform.
Police say this is still an ongoing investigation.
So far in 2023, there have been three subway trains pushed onto the track, according to NYPD statistics. Overall, subway crime is actually down 8 percent this year.
Earlier this month, a homeless man was killed by a former marine at the Broadway-Lafayette station when a 30-year-old passenger threatened to enter a subway car.
The 24-year-old former marine then locked him unconscious and died.
Last summer, a 26-year-old pregnant woman was punched multiple times by a wrench-wielding man in Manhattan, leaving her seriously injured.
27 people have been violently killed on the subway since March 2020, compared to an average of two people a year in the five years before the pandemic started.
NYPD reveals twenty-five people were pushed onto a subway line in New York City in 2022, killing at least two while others narrowly missed death.
Lamale McRae, 41, randomly charged across the platform and knocked 32-year-old David Martin onto the rails
One such attack was on David Martin, 32, who was walking in the Wyckoff and Myrtle Avenue subway station in Brooklyn when Lamale McRae, 41, randomly attacked the platform and knocked him onto the rails.
The attack was caught on chilling video showing McRae – a career criminal who has served 20 years in prison for attempted murder – calmly putting his bag down in the subway before launching himself after Martin and then fleeing.
Figures from the New York City Police Department obtained by DailyMail.com reveal that 2022 had more subways than 2021.
Manhattan saw at least six pushes – including both deaths. The Bronx and Brooklyn saw at least three pushes apiece, and Queens saw one.
New York City subway crime to increase by 30 percent by 2022. Anti-crime initiatives are driven by rising violence in the vital transit network.
Mayor Eric Adams has stepped up transit police presence, spending $20 million more per month in overtime fees since January, according to Bloomberg.
