Subway Pusher Admits to Hate Crime and Misdirected Bias

“I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims. Ever since 2001 when they put down the Twin Towers I’ve been beating them up.” — Erika Menendez's reason for pushing Sunando Sen onto subway tracks at Flushing 7 in New York City.

My first reaction to Ms. Menendez's statement is "What? That kind of behavior got old when you graduate high school!"

This is another case of misdirected bias which this woman has been doing since 2001. Even though she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her violence towards men who look like "Hindus and Muslims" verifies the misdirected bias phenomenon.

Her initial criminal charge in 2000 is related to a stolen credit card. However, evidence of her psychiatric disorder does not appear on her police time-line until 2005.

Although she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her erratic behavior is more consistent with her drug use (cocaine and marijuana). The escalation of violence combined with harassment suggest elements of anger and rage preceded her attack.

However, her condition deteriorated in 2005 when she went off her medication. In the recent case, the trigger appears to be conflict with her mother. This was back in February 2012. It is likely her violence and non-compliance with medication is due to either the manic phase of her disorder and/or recreational drug use.

Her reasoning for killing Sen indicates psychosis. Even though I sympathize with her psychiatric condition, I find her reason for killing Sen irrational and harmful to others.

Yet a closer look at what precedes each assault — first in April 2003, she scratches and slaps a 28-year old man and later in June 2003 she punches a 55-yr old man — along with the non-compliance with medication, it indicates misdirection of aggression and violence against her loved ones towards an innocent bystander who is male, targeting a racial group. In December she was arrested for cocaine possession.

In the case with the 28 yr old man, she assaulted him in her home. The case was dropped. But the case of the 55 yr old man being assaulted shows the typical signs of cocaine psychosis. She accused him of having sex with her mother, and of stealing jewelry from her in high school. After filing assault charges, and two restraining orders against her, the man never saw her again.

Here's the description of her first day in court: "She laughed and snickered so much during her court hearing last weekend that the judge admonished her. The attorney who represented her only for her arraignment said she acted the same way with him when he tried to speak with her. He had no further comment."

Mass media reports from the Wall Street Journal indicate that the defense lawyer who represented her in court at arraignment will not be handling her defense case, due to Ms Menendez's present state, which indicates either bipolar mania or, most likely, cocaine psychosis.

I really feel for the Menendez family, but their right not to make public comment to mass media indicates that the stigma of mental illness makes their privacy necessary. It also indicates that the Menendez family are afraid of public scrutiny due to the nature of Ms. Menendez's crime.

Ms Menendez's case also shows that her family may not have the resources to place her in a private psychiatric clinic.

Her non-compliance shows that she is in denial of her psychiatric condition, mainly due to the social stigma caused by her erratic and often violent behavior.

Since her diagnosis with bipolar disorder, her use of violence in committing her hate crimes indicates the possibility of recreational drug use. It also indicates that she strongly resents her diagnosis, as indicated by non-compliance of medication.

In light of Ms. Menendez's behavior before her arrest, she needs to be rediagnosed. The Wall Street Journal's news article makes no indication that this has been done but the Huffington Post indicates that a psychiatric evaluation has been requested and will be presented when court determines if she is fit to stand trial on January 14, 2013.

My synopsis regarding Menendez is, Hispanic woman kills South Asian man due to misdirected bias against South Asian and Middle Eastern men in wake of 9-11. Her psychiatric history indicates psychopathic escalation of violence. When she becomes manic, she goes off her medication and resorts to cocaine abuse.

Her past behavior suggests unresolved issues with fathers, brothers and male cousins. Thus, Ms Menendez could be cast as a victim of the patriarchy, since she may have been exposed to anti-Muslim propaganda without confounding information. Thus she fell for the logical fallacies inherent in such propaganda. However, she acted as a bully in reaction to hatred for Hindus and Muslims because the propaganda confirmed her misdirected bias — it is safer to hate Hindus and Muslims than to hate loved ones such as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters since the former are outside the family group.

By spreading the propaganda of anti-Muslim factions among the right-wing politicians with the aim of unjustly daemonizing Muslims, mass media only sows the seed of hate crime in a young mind warped by decadent hedonism and unwilling to mature into a woman in control of her life.

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In a related murder on the subway weeks earlier, Ki-Suck Han, 58, was pushed onto subway tracks by Naeem Davis. I bet mass media is going to suppress reporting on the enmity between the Korean community and Black community in the wake of the Rodney King riots. My rant on the Davis / Han subway murder is pending.

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Subway suspect's past includes mental health problems and violence: http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/12/30/subway-suspects-past-includes-mental-health-problems-violence/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=WSJ_NY_NY_Blog

Erika Menendez, Alleged Subway Pusher, Arrested For Hate Crime: tttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/30/erika-menendez-alleged-su_n_2384757.html

NYC Subway Push, Ordered To Take Psychiatric Exam: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/erika-menendez-suspect-in-nyc-subway-push-psychiatric-exam-_n_2387776.html?utm_hp_ref=new-york