01 January,2013 03:35 AM IST | | Agencies
A deranged woman accused of pushing an Indian immigrant to death in front of a subway in a twisted 9/11 vendetta once assaulted an Fire Department City of New York (FDNY) hero who rushed to the burning twin towers.
Unstable: Erika Menendez punched ex-firefighter Daniel Conlisk in an unprovoked attack in 2003. Pic/AFP, New York City Police Department
Erika Menendez is facing second-degree murder charges for shoving off Sunando Sen at a Queens subway station.
The 31-year-old, weed-smoking suspect has a violent history that retired Battalion Chief Daniel Conlisk knows firsthand.
Conlisk (65) said that the whole situation is sad and horrible, and now considered himself lucky.
Menendez said she pushed Sen because of a âhate for Hindus and Muslims' she blamed for the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Conlisk was dumbfounded after he was told Menendez's use of 9/11 as an excuse to kill an innocent man.
On the day of the terror attacks, Conlisk was among a group of Queens firefighters who rushed to the World Trade Center on a commandeered city bus.
Conlisk, whose father was an FDNY deputy chief, has seen the evil side of Menendez and said he knew she's capable of murder.
According to the report, just two years after 9/11, Conlisk was taking out the trash at his Ridgewood, Queens, home, when Menendez appeared out of the darkness and randomly attacked him.
He recalled that while going out with the recyclables, Menendez immediately came and stood in front of him and shouted âYou f---ed my mother!'
He said that she started charging at him and clawed at his face.
When cops arrived, Menendez returned to the scene, screaming that Conlisk had "stolen her rings in high school".
After the assault, Conlisk took out two consecutive orders of protection against Menendez. He said Menendez's boyfriend begged him not to file charges. Police said two months before she assaulted Conlisk, Menendez was arrested for punching a 28-year-old man in the face inside her home in Queens.
She has at least eight prior arrests stretching back to her teens, the report added.
Subway accused âthought it was cool'
When asked why she pushed Sen to his death Erika Menendez said, "There is no reason. I just pushed him in front of the train because I thought it would be cool," she said, according to the Queens district attorney's office. She has been ordered to have a mental health exam. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Jan 14. Angel Luis Santiago, who used to work at the Queens building where Menendez's mother live, said he was shocked by her arrest. "It surprised me what she did," he said. "She never acted that way."u00a0
