A woman whose spine was broken and her face slashed to the bone after she was shoved into a moving NYC subway car kept asking ‘am I going to die?’, a witness has revealed.
Emine Ozsoy, 35, is in critical condition after the horrific attack while she was walking on a downtown platform at the Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street station on her way to work at around 6:05 a.m on Sunday.
Witness Nancy Marrero, 45, of Long Island City, said she noticed the victim walking down the subway platform, fixing her hair before she saw a man suddenly grab her head and push it into the side of the departing train.
‘She didn’t even see it coming. With open palms he just mushed her head — not her body — into the train. She just tumbled, just kept spinning because the train kept hitting her,’ Marrero told the New York Post.
‘She just kept asking me, “Am I going to die?”‘
A GoFundme page for the Turkish immigrant who lives in Jackson Heights described her as a ‘beautiful soul’, and said doctors had initially informed her friends she had a slim chance of recovering movement below the neck.
Emine Ozsoy was shoved into a NYC subway car which left her in critical condition with a broken spine
Marrero told The Post that Ozsoy immediately said she didn’t know her attacker — or what had just transpired following the attack.
‘I was like, “Do you know him?”‘ Marrero said.
‘She was like, “I don’t even know what happened.” I said, “A gentleman just shoved your head into the train.”‘
‘She was like, “Oh my God, I don’t — I don’t even… I can’t even remember what happened.”
Ozsoy was on her way to work at the time of the attack.
‘You could see the white inside, that’s how bad it was,’ the postal worker said of the resulting gash that laced its way down the woman’s bloody face.
‘She said, “I don’t feel my arms. I feel like they’re broken.”‘
Marrero said the suspect did not appear to be homeless or dirty looking. She says the attack left her traumatized.
‘When I got home that evening, I was in tears because I just kept seeing her face, seeing how he just mushed her into that train,’ Marrero said.
‘I am so frightened, and my son is frightened for me for when I have to leave in the morning to go to work,’ Marrero said.
‘Now I keep my back against anything I can. I’m traumatized.’
Shiv Patel, a friend and coworker who had set up the fundraiser for Ozsoy, wrote that she had gone against all odds to start moving her arms in hospital one day after the attack.
Patel’s page – which refers to the victim as Emine Yilmaz – said her medical expenses had already reached a six figure sum.
‘This fund is on behalf of Emine Yilmaz, a kind, beautiful soul 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. She’s artistic, lighthearted, witty, and, above all, someone we consider family.
‘Doctors initially informed us she had a slim chance of recovering movement below the neck. In just one day, she challenged that prognosis by moving her arms. It is a huge step, but her road to recovery will be long and challenging. She’s a fighter and is already fighting to recover. She will get there, but she needs everyone’s help.
‘Her medical expenses have already reached six digits, and any donation will be gratefully accepted with an open heart.’
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Emine Ozsoy, 35, was left with a broken neck and spine after a man shoved her into a moving subway car on Sunday
Patel continues: ‘If you are unable to make a donation, please consider sharing this link to get the word out, or even keeping Emine in your thoughts.’
The fundraiser has already raised $6,330 raised of $200,000 goal.
‘No one should have to face such a horrifying tragedy, especially when simply trying to provide for themselves. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you all truly for taking the time to read this,’ the post concluded.
Ozsoy fell backward onto the platform after her head was slammed into the train, leaving her with severe spinal injuries and lacerations to her head, authorities said.
The attacker fled the scene on foot, heading toward the Second Avenue exit, and as of Tuesday morning he is still being sought by police.
Police describe the suspect as a male between 30 to 40 years old and roughly 5 feet 7 inches tall.
The surveillance photos, released by police Sunday night, show the alleged attacker wearing a black shirt with a white rim, blue jeans and white sneakers.
The man appears to be holding a cup of coffee while standing on the platform.
Police say this remains an ongoing investigation.
In 2023 thus far, there have been three subway push to tracks, 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 a Broadway-Lafayette station when a passenger, 30, threateningly entered the subway car.
The former marine, 24, then put him in a headlock until he was unconscious and died.
Last summer, a 26-year-old pregnant woman was struck multiple times by man wielding a wrench in Manhattan, leaving victim badly-injured.
27 people have been violently killed on the subway since March 2020, compared with an average of two a year in the five years before the pandemic began.
The NYPD revealed twenty-five people were shoved onto the subway tracks in New York City in 2022, killing at least two while others narrowly avoided death.
Lamale McRae, 41, randomly charged across the platform and knocked 32-year-old David Martin down into the tracks
One such attack was that of David Martin, 32, who was walking down the Wyckoff and Myrtle Avenue subway station in Brooklyn when Lamale McRae, 41, randomly charged across the platform and knocked him down into the tracks.
The attack was caught in a terrifying video which showed McRae – a career criminal who had served 20 years in jail for attempted murder – calmly placing his bag down on the subway before launching himself after Martin and then fleeing.
Figures from the New York City Police Department obtained by DailyMail.com revealed that 2022 has had more subway pushings than there were in all of 2021.
Manhattan saw at least six shovings – including both fatalities. The Bronx and Brooklyn saw at least three pushings each, and Queens saw one.
New York City’s subway crime rose by 30 percent in 2022. Multiple anti-crime initiatives were spurred by the rise in violence on a vital transit network.
Mayor Eric Adams has increased transit police presence, spending $20 million more per month on overtime costs since January, according to Bloomberg.
DailyMail
