Suspect Charged In Deadly Subway Incident
UPDATED 11/18/14 12:04 a.m.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A suspect has been arrested and charged in a deadly shoving incident on the subway in the Bronx.
Murder charges were announced early Wednesday against the suspect, Kevin Darden, 34.
Sources told CBS2 Darden was arrested outside his mother's house on Grand Avenue without incident. He had no weapons in his possession.
His mother's house is about five miles from the scene where Darden allegedly pushed the man to his death.
Next door neighbor Ricky John told 1010 WINS reporter Sonia Rincon that as soon as he recognized Darden from the picture that police put out, cops were on the block.
And as CBS2's Weijia Jiang reported, detectives have also linked Darden to two other crimes at subway stations – both of them earlier this month.
The first incident took place on Nov. 6 at around 5:30 p.m., police said. In that incident, a 51-year-old Asian man said he was pushed to the ground while waiting on the platform at West 4th Street in Manhattan, police said.
The victim in that incident was hospitalized with serious bruising, CBS2 reported. He came forward after recognizing the suspect from the surveillance photo released following the most recent fatal incident.
The victim told police after his attacker pushed him to the platform floor he said he shouldn't walk in front of him and "I'm warning you."
The victim was treated and released. Sources told WCBS 880 the victim recognized Darden as the same man who hurt him, and picked him out of a photo lineup.
Police also told Jiang that Darden may also have robbed someone at the subway station at 167th Street and River Avenue in the Bronx just before the fatal shoving incident Sunday night. The station agent called 911 and has since told police it is the same man in the surveillance photo, sources told Jiang.
Darden was expected to be charged in connection with the death of 61-year-old Wai Kuen Kwok.
Kwok was with his wife around 8:45 a.m. Sunday when he was shoved from behind onto the subway tracks as the D train approached the station at 167th Street and Grand Concourse in the Highbridge section of the Bronx.
Detectives said Kwok and his wife had been headed to Chinatown to have breakfast for her birthday at the time of the incident.
Police said there was no previous altercation between Kwok and the suspect, and the motive was unknown.
Motorman James Muriel was operating the train at the time. He said he immediately applied the brake, but there was not enough time to stop.
"You could feel the bumps underneath the train. A passenger from my car was crying. I was crying," James Muriel said. "I needed help getting out of the cab because my legs went numb. That's because the next step is to descend to the road bed and find the body."
Police said Darden, of the Bronx, has more than 30 prior arrests on charges of robbery, assault and drugs.
Earlier this month, he was arrested for allegedly pickpocketing in Midtown Manhattan, WCBS 880's Paul Murnane reported.
Surveillance cameras captured a man police identified as Darden shortly after the attack. He was seen boarding a Bx35 bus, and police said he then got off minutes later, entered a bodega and eventually left, nonchalantly smoking a cigarette.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories: