Remembering NYC Subway-Shove Victim Michelle Go

Tags: Currents Asia, Asian American, Brooklyn, NY, Family, Homeless, Media, Queens, NY, Spirituality, Subway, Subway Stations

Currents News Staff

From New York City to San Francisco: vigils were held for Michelle Go, the 40-year-old California native who was killed this weekend after being pushed in front of an oncoming train in a Times Square subway station.

“Could have been me, could have been my friend and so I think it just hit a little differently,” said Pam Yang.

Pam Yang was one of hundreds who gathered in Times Square Tuesday night, Jan. 18, holding flowers, candles and signs denouncing anti-Asian violence. But while crimes against Asians have gone up in the city, police have not deemed this latest subway-shove a hate crime. Benjamin Wei of the group Asians Fighting Injustice does.

“We’re being targeted, this just hits so close to home,” Benjamin said. “Just another death, another passing, it’s painful.”

Mayor Eric Adams, who at first came under fire for his response to the crime, is now vowing to make the subways safer by putting more cops and outreach workers underground. but Pam says she still doesn’t feel safe in her own city.

“It’s a very pervasive threat that’s constantly bubbling under the surface,” Pam said, “because you have no idea who it’s coming from, you have no idea if a specific time of day is gonna be worse than another. So there’s no parameters around which you can kinda set yourself up for safety.”

The suspect is a 61-year-old man being held without bail. A judge ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation during his arraignment Wednesday from Bellevue hospital.

Meanwhile, the MTA is now looking into installing platform barriers in the subway. Some cities like Paris and Hong Kong have them, but New York City transit leaders say it would be a complicated and expensive safety solution costing in the billions likely taking years to install.