The man charged with killing an Asian American woman when he shoved her in front of an oncoming subway train in Times Square in January has been deemed unfit to stand trial, prosecutors said.
Martial Simon was placed into the custody of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene during a court appearance Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said on Wednesday.
He was declared unfit to stand trial by psychiatrists at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan last month, according to the New York Times.
During Tuesday’s court hearing, prosecutors decided not to challenge the psychiatrists’ finding and Simon was remanded to the custody of the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene until he is fit to stand.
Simon, 61, was previously denied bond and has been held at Bellevue since his arrest on January 15. He did not make an appearance in court on Tuesday.
His case is now suspended until further notice.
Simon was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly pushed 40-year-old Michelle Go onto the subway tracks as a train pulled into the Times Square 42nd Street subway station on January 15, prosecutors said.
Go was standing on the southbound NQR train platform when the attack happened.
.
While Simon was not charged with a hate crime, Go’s death came amid a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in New York City and the rest of the US. Following her death, hundreds of people gathered in Times Square to honor Go, who outside her professional life also spent time volunteering with the New York Junior League helping the homeless.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul have both vowed to step up homeless outreach and police presence in the subways following the recent rise in crime on subways.
.
For more stories like this, .
