'I Would Have Died:' Woman Saved By Good Samaritans After Being Pushed Onto Subway Tracks Speaks Out
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 49-year-old woman who was pushed onto subway tracks says if a group of good Samaritans hadn't pulled her to safety, she "would have died."
As CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported, the search continued late Wednesday for the man who pushed the woman onto the tracks for no apparent reason.
Kamala Shrestha was standing on the northbound F Train platform at Second Avenue and Houston Street Tuesday night, headed home after work at the nearby Think Pink Nails salon, when police said a man came up from behind and pushed her onto the tracks.
A day afterward, it was difficult for Shrestha to open her eyes and get out of bed. The mother of three was dizzy and in pain – with her head stitched up and bandaged – after the complete stranger pushed her off the subway platform and then ran off.
She recounted the terrifying moments before she was pushed.
"'I'm pushing you.' He said something, 'I'm killing you,'" Shrestha told CBS2's Magdalena Doris.
Kamala Shrestha spoke to us from her bedside, wants the man who pushed her onto train tracks caught & thanks men who saved her @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/RqTKA5MVKO
— Maggie Kent (@MaggieKent6abc) August 23, 2017
There was no oncoming train, but he was severely injured.
"She had a deep cut on her head and she was bleeding," her husband, Nam Lal Shrestha, said. "The guys helped her."
Shrestha was taken to the hospital with lacerations to her head. She said she is grateful for the men who helped pull her to safety and wants to find them and thank them.
"I want to say to them thank you," she said. "They gave me life, new life. If they didn't help me, maybe I would have died."
As she recovers, detectives are searching the neighborhood for surveillance video of the suspect.
"I wish they'd find the guy," Shrestha said. "How many is he going to kill? I'm so scared."
Investigators describe the suspect as a black man with a slim build who was last seen wearing a black shirt and baggy, dark pants. Police sources tell CBS2 he ran into the mezzanine, but it's not clear if he got on a southbound train or went up to the street level.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.