Upper East Side Subway Shovers in Toils: One Jailed, One Convicted

The plague of Upper East Side subway shovers returned on Sunday March 8, when a 30-year-old man and an 83-year-old man where thrown to the tracks at around 11:30 a.m. on the platform of the Lexington Avenue-63rd Street station. The younger man rescued the elder one, Air Force veteran Richard Williams by carrying him to the platform. Accoding to his family, Williams remains in critical condition.

“My father loves the city,” the distraught daughter told the Daily News. “He was on his way to get sushi. He took the subway all the time, He’s always been a New Yorker.”

The suspect in the attack, Bairon Hernandez, 34, was arrested at a Sunset Park, Brooklyn homeless shelter on March 10. An illegal immigrant from Honduras, Hernandez has been previous deported has an outstanding INS detainer. Presently, he’s charged with felony assault and being held on Rikers Island on $100,000 bail. Should Williams die from his injuries, those charges will be upgraded.

According to the Department of Correction, Hernandez is 5 foot 7 inches, 170 pounds.

Bragg Announces Conviction in 2023 Subway Shoving

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., recently announced the all-count trial conviction of Kaml Semrade, 42, for pushing a woman into a departing train at the Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street station on May 21, 2023, leaving her paralyzed from the shoulders down. On March 9, 2026, a New York State Supreme Court jury convicted Semrade of one count each of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and Assault in the First Degree. He is expected to be sentenced on May 6, 2026.

“Kamal Semrade turned a moving train into a weapon that caused devastating, life-altering injuries,” said District Attorney Bragg. “A jury of his peers convicted him of forcefully shoving an unsuspecting commuter from behind – a subway rider’s worst nightmare. I thank the survivor for bravely recounting her story at trial.”

As proven at trial, on May 21, 2023, Semrade boarded the same train as the 35-year-old woman, who was commuting to work, at the Roosevelt Avenue stop in Queens. He then got off at the same subway stop as her at 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue before the unprovoked attack. At approximately 6:05 a.m., Semrade walked right behind the woman, who was adjacent to the train, then to her left side. He used both his hands to shove the woman by the head and neck, with all his force, into the moving subway car, which was accelerating to leave the station.

The victim’s face and head hit the train and she was flung back onto the platform, fracturing her spine. Following spinal surgery, the victim remains paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Immediately after the attack, Semrade travelled down the stairs to another platform and eventually fled the station. Upon returning to his homeless shelter in Queens later that evening, Semrade placed the clothing he was wearing out for laundry service. He was identified by shelter employees based on an NYPD CrimeStoppers post and arrested two days after the attack.