Subway Violence Strikes Again as Maniac Shoves Man onto Tracks at W. 18th Street

Horror once again came home to a Manhattan rail commuter on the afternoon of, Dec. 31, when a deranged 23-year-old, Kamel Hawkins, shoved a total stranger onto the subway tracks at 18th Street— just moments before southbound 1 train roared into the station.

The terrifying incident occurred shortly after 1:30 p.m, mere hours after Mayor Adams asserted, “Crime is not surging in the subway system. You know, we have some high-profile incidents, and we’re really disturbed about it.”

Hizzoner here was referring both the then unknown homeless woman—since identified as 57-year-old Debrina Kawan—burned alive by an illegal Guatemalan immigrant on an F-train on December 22, and the incident two days later, when a knife-wielding Brooklynite viciously slashed two people at Grand Central station.

Miraculously, the New Year’s Eve victim, 45-year-old Joseph Lynskey, survived by the assault by falling in the most fortunate way possible, into the trench between the rails, which put him beneath the undercarriage of the oncoming train.

Rescued by FDNY and rushed to Bellvue Hospital, Lynskey’s injuries, including a fractured skull, broken ribs and a ruptured spleen landed him in critical but stable condition, and were not considered life threatening. At press time on January 3, it’s reported that Lynskey was again able to walk.

Video of the attack, which quickly went viral, showed a man in black pants and a grey hoodie come up behind Lynskey, who was standing near the platform’s edge, and shoving him onto the tracks. The assailant then fled, revealing some cognizance of his action. He was apprehended by NYPD hours later above ground near Columbus Circle.

Kamel Hawkins, a resident of Walt Whitman Houses public housing complex in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, has had numerous past encounters with the law.

In June 2019, he was charged with assaulting a police officer on Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn. More recently, Hawkins was hit with assault, harassment and weapons charges for an October 12 stalking incident, also in Brooklyn.

Asked about the latter case, representatives for Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez replied that Hawkins alleged crimes were not bail eligible, meaning he was freed on his own recognizance.

Whatever one thinks of the vagaries of New York State bail reform, this fact has proven extremely unfortunate for Hawkins—who is now facing attempted murder and second-degree assault charges in Manhattan.

Hawkins, who is described as a black male, six-feet tall and 160 pounds, is currently being held without bail at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Riker’s Island. His next scheduled court date is January 6.

If Hawkins present confinement is reassuring, details that have emerged about past are predictably bleak.

The object of Hawkins’ October 12 charges—a woman who wished to remain anonymous—told the New York Post, “It could have been me. People always say that you gotta read the red flags, and I’m glad I did.”

The red flag in question was when Hawkins punched her dog. “Why would you hit my dog?” she asked him. “My dog is like my kid,” she said. “After that I let him know I’m not cool with him.”

“It’s sad” she continued. “I don’t wish nothing bad for him. He could have finished school and become an IT tech. He could have left the projects. He could have changed his own story.”

Hawkins’ father, 40-year-old Shamel Hawkins, has another story.

In his telling—which omits the stalking incident above—his son was fine up until around the second week of December when he began “acting weird.”

“We think somebody put something in his weed,” the father told the Post. “About three weeks ago he was all right and then he started acting weird. We wanted to get him help but he refused.” He had at one point been living with his father and brother in the Walt Whitman houses but had moved out at some point and was most recently living in shelter.

Weed now being sold legally is much stronger today than it was in the peace/love/Woodstock era of the 60s/70s when it was illegal. While supporters of legal weed say it is less harmful than alcohol, one downside, according to opponents is that smoking marijuana makes some people anxious and paranoid.

At what age Kamel Hawkins began smoking weed is unknown but given that New York’s legal age for cannabis use is 21 but most weed smokers start in their teens, according to studies.

The chances that Kamel Hawkins’ weed use will be closely scrutinized seem slim but, per his father, such an examination might in part explain his son’s most recent, life altering actions.