Police have arrested a man in the subway attack Sunday in which a 61-year-old man was pushed to his death in front of a Bronx train as his wife watched in horror, police say.
Kevin Darden, the suspect in the fatal shove that killed Wai Kuen Kwok on the D train platform at the 167th Street station, was taken into custody Tuesday near his mother's home in the Bronx after an intensive manhunt, police and law enforcement sources said.
Darden was initally picked up for questioning in a separate assault at the West Fourth Street station during the evening rush Nov. 6, when he allegedly pushed a 51-year-old man to the ground.
He was arrested and charged in that assault, then later charged with murder in the Bronx subway push.
Darden was remanded to jail after his arraignment Wednesday, and is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 24. He did not enter a plea, but public defender Edward McGowan asked the public not to "jump to conclusions... about this terrible incident."
"Kevin Darden is a human being and not a monster," he said.
Kwok's wife was not hurt, though investigators have said the person who killed her husband may have tried to push her onto the tracks as well before he fled the station.
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The motorman on the train that hit Kwok told NBC 4 New York he immediately applied the brakes when he saw Kwok flying onto the tracks, but it was too late.
There was no indication that Kwok knew the man who pushed him or fought or argued with him. Witnesses told police they believe the man left the subway station and jumped on a city bus.
It wasn't clear how police linked the Nov. 6 and the Nov. 24 attacks, but Darden was wanted in both.
The victim in the West Fourth Street subway assault told investigators that Darden said to him, "You should not walk in front of me, I'm warning you" before pushing him to the ground on the platform, according to law enforcement sources.
The victim was treated for hand and back injuries at a hospital.
Law enforcement sources said Darden has been arrested more than 30 times, some for violent crimes across the city. It's not known how many of those arrests led to convictions.
