61-year old Wai Kuen Kwok was standing with his wife waiting for the train at a Bronx subway station on Sunday when somebody pushed him towards the path of the approaching D Train without warning leading to his untimely death.
Kwok's wife, Yow Ho Lee, who witnessed the horrible incident, was not injured but police said she was taken to the hospital because of trauma. The police are now on a manhunt in search for the stranger who pushed Kwok without provocation.
59-year old Yow Ho Lee told investigators that there was no interaction between her husband, a worker in a Brooklyn-based kitchenware factory, and the man before the latter made the deadly push. The police consider the case as a random act of violence.
Although the train's motorman saw the Chinese immigrant tumble off the platform and slammed on his brakes, it was too late. The train struck Kwok while his body was still in the air. Three more of the train's cars rolled over the body before the train stopped.
In a surveillance video released by the police, the culprit appeared to be a middle aged man with balding head, who was wearing a black leather jacket over a white T-shirt with white lettering, black pants and white sneakers, who calmly strolled out of the station after committing the fatal crime as if nothing has happened.
The suspect boarded a Bx35 bus at Grand Concourse and East 167th Street when incidentally, a passenger who witnessed the deadly push recognized him to be Kwok's killer.
"The person was too scared [to speak up] and feared for his life, so he waited until the end of the line [before alerting the bus driver]," a source told the New York Post but by that time, the suspected man has already gotten off for 30 minutes.
The driver of the bus contacted the police who then looked at the surveillance video near to where the man exited the bus a few blocks away from the subway station. The video showed the man going in and out of a bodega and then smoking a cigarette. Investigators believe that the suspected may be living in the vicinity of the 167th Street station, where the incident took place.
Kwok's son said that his father is a hard-working man who worked six days a week so he can provide for his family.
"He wanted us to be successful. His plan was to work and get his sons through school, then he would return to Hong Kong and enjoy himself," he said.
