Woman on parole charged with shouting racial slur, shoving Asian man on NYC subway

A parolee was charged Thursday with shouting a racial slur at an Asian man on a New York City subway and then shoving the victim, according to police.

The attacker accosted the 26-year-old victim at 6:15 pm on Dec. 9 on a southbound F train approaching the 23rd Street station and allegedly shouted, "Hey, are you a c—k? You people brought the virus here. You people killed my people."

Then the woman shoved the victim and fled the scene, police said.

The city's Hate Crime Task Force detectives have since arrested the suspect, identifed as 35-year-old Tandika Wright, wanted for the anti-Asian hate crime. Wright was charged with aggravated harrassment based on race or religion.

Wright, who is on parole and has about 35 prior arrests, was taken into custody at a parole office following the arrest. Wright's parole is set to expire in March 2025.

She was also arrested back in December 2014 and charged with second-degree murder, but she was convicted of first-degree attempted manslaughter and served four years in prison from 2015 until 2019, when she was released on parole, New York Post reported, citing state records. Wright was also jailed from 2011 to 2013 on a fourth-degree arson charge, The Post reported.

New York City's subway system has been in the national spotlight in recent months, deemed a place of violent crime. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has confessed that he has trepidations about riding the subway after insisting that it was safe. The mayor's comments just came after the tragic death of an Asian woman who was pushed into the path of a train by a homeless black man.