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katherine83 t1_j4mxfwd wrote

Senseless tragedy. This article brought me to tears

135

redditorium t1_j4n2g4b wrote

> Only now, 365 days later, can I express what Michelle meant to us and how her death continues to affect us. Michelle is not the first daughter that I have lost. My wife and I lost our second daughter, when she was an infant, to crib death, her life cut short before we even knew her. Together they represent a hole in our lives that can never be filled. My wife, my son and I mourn their passing every day.

Absolutely heartbreaking

350

jewishseeker t1_j4nreak wrote

What a tragic and heartbreaking story. May this man and his family know no more pain.

141

myfunnies420 t1_j4nxgg0 wrote

This entire tragedy was so heartbreaking. The run of violence in 2021 + early 2022 was so horrendous

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MirrorReflection0880 t1_j4nz1vw wrote

I feel bad for this father, he'll never see his beloved daughter ever again while that POS who murdered her will probably be free one day.

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knockatize t1_j4o57cq wrote

I’m surprised he hasn’t been mugged himself.

−50

youallneedtherapy t1_j4o76ev wrote

I think of her often. It’s beautiful to hear from her father, who clearly adores her. Can’t help but cry.

89

RedOrca-15483 t1_j4o9fvh wrote

" But knowing that Michelle was murdered by being shoved in front of an oncoming train is unacceptable. That is not a fitting ending for a woman who shared the best of herself with others."

The political leaders and administrators failed him and his family. The public agencies failed him and his family. The MTA who have had a book's worth of prior incidents of mentally unstable people harming commuters and people being struck by trains, accident or malicious, failed him and his family. And more importantly, they all failed Michelle.

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zed910 t1_j4ojf2l wrote

While reading I was moved to tears. For anyone in the comments who hasn’t read this letter, read it. It’s beautifully written, but this paragraph sticks out:

“The millions of people in New York City may not agree on everything, but we can agree that New York City should be safe for those who call it home. Michelle did not live with fear of being attacked. She took the subway to work; she was not reckless about her surroundings. If Michelle were still here, she would urge us to come together to build a safer community. This is not about politics; this is about caring for each other and humanity.”

In addition to other things, I wish we would implement screen doors on subway platforms. I don’t care how much it costs, saving lives is worth it. Solving the mental health and homeless crisis is something we definitely should be trying to do but that will take decades. Funding and installing screen doors on every platform (but especially high traffic ones) could take under a year if we were motivated to do it.

151

RepresentativeAge444 t1_j4or2lc wrote

Replying to zed910 (#1,382,594)

All of these things are literally choices. We have the means as a society to solve most of our issues. We’ve simply decided that if it costs too much it’s not worth it. Meanwhile the Pentagon just failed five audits and can’t account for 60% of its budget. Citizens should be protesting in the streets over that alone, given how much we pay into with minimum accountability. But such is the numbness of the masses and therefore preventable tragedies will continue to happen.

70

Kel_Casus t1_j4osb3c wrote

Replying to RepresentativeAge444 (#1,382,937)

Exactly, it's not like people WANT things to be as they are. Some just believe we could do more by addressing the issues at their source so there won't have to be other tragedies such as this. There's so much more we could be doing.

16

4zem t1_j4oxm4e wrote

I’m sad, I’m angry, and Im sick and tired of the fact that our elected officials don’t care enough to do what is necessary to keep New Yorkers safe. They would rather spend that money for things that won’t help us at all.

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codernyc t1_j4pu10b wrote

To everybody calling this “senseless” and a “tragedy”, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but if your post history defends the inept, corrupt and useless politicians like Adams and Hochul that you and other such people in this city elected, who keep laws in place that coddle criminals and DAs in place who refuse to sentence them to consequences, who close their eyes to perpetuate this type of crime, your manufactured sympathy means nothing. You’re part of the problem.

10

pescennius t1_j4py83v wrote

Replying to zed910 (#1,382,594)

It is a beautiful letter and I appreciate the genuine humanity of it. New York City should be safe for all those who call it home and its our responsibility as the citizenry to hold our elected officials accountable to making that happen.

If you want to see this vision become a reality, unfortunately it will be about politics. The MTA completed an extensive review of the subway system in 2019 with details on each station and what would need to happen to install platform screen doors. Nearly half the stations were deemed infeasible simply because of old elevated structures and ADA compliance (there are pictures in the report to confirm this). There is a pilot plan for 3 stations (7 train at 42nd, 3rd Ave on the L, Stuphin Blvd on the E). These stations are not the busiest in the system and happen to be some of the easiest to install PSDs on, because they have straight platforms, the lines only use one type of subway car, and the PSDs likely can be installed without violating ADA compliance.

In order for PSDs to be rolled out system wide, an active political push has to be made to:

  • Either provide sufficient funding to the MTA to retrofit stations according to ADA standards when installing PSDs or waive those standards for the sake of PSDs. This will require federal support. The cost just for the stations that don't require retrofitting is still on the order of $5B to $10B for the 128 stations considered eligible.
  • Standardize rolling stock on lines running mixed stock so that doors are always in the same place on the platform. This requires funding to accelerate the decomissioning of old cars (R44, R62, R68, etc) with new car orders. Tbh I doubt this could be done in under a year.
  • Fund other safety measures that can alleviate the issue. For example, higher train frequency means less crowding on platforms. Installing Cameras/Sensors that can integrate with signaling systems to stop trains if
  • There is a massive debate on the right way to address the unhoused (specifically the chronically unhoused) that I'd like to avoid wading into. Something obviously needs to happen there, but that's outside the scope of just transit.

"I don’t care how much it costs, saving lives is worth it". As others have brought up, as a society we have the money to fix this, we've just convinced ourselves it isn't worth the cost. Hearts and minds have to be changed. None of this is impossible, but will require actual time, effort, and execution. There are a number of transit oriented organizations locally, like the Rider's Alliance, which you can join to push this agenda. Additionally, you could try starting a specific organization around this project like others have done. It might be time for a "Friends of Platform Screen Doors". At the very least reach out to your representatives (local and federal) and demand change. It is as simple as ever to do so.

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saltycookies420 t1_j4pzzsz wrote

Replying to codernyc (#1,384,711)

You're part of the problem because you think all criminals are the same. You think locking people away will resolve these problems as society continues to produce more of the same violent dangerous unstable people.

If your post history isnt pushing for mental health services and reform in NYC and better / improved education (which is objectively proven to lower crimes) its because you dont actually give a fuck about helping people. You just care about their problem when it becomes your problem. The worst kind of people.

−11

SwampYankee t1_j4q0ugz wrote

And the deranged homeless are still allowed to live in the subway system. Nothing has been done to prevent this happening again.

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Porcin t1_j4q54pn wrote

Replying to codernyc (#1,384,711)

This. Alvin Bragg easily won his election, and it's not like he was being coy about his position to give multiple chances to violent criminals. People knew what they were signing up for when they voted for him, or maybe they just saw the (D) next to the name who knows. Just one month before Martial Simon killed Michelle he was declared unfit for trial. Where is the accountability for the system overseen by elected officials who let him roam free? Where are the protests for accountability like in summer of 2020? People don't want to admit just how skewed by the media the causes they supposedly care about are. No media outlet is telling them to go after these officials so this poor father's eulogy to his daughter is just gonna be forgotten without inciting any positive change

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grazfest96 t1_j4q6t6a wrote

As a parent myself, reading this rips me in two. Nobody should have to deal with such senseless loss.

3

NetQuarterLatte t1_j4q8ldb wrote

>“The millions of people in New York City may not agree on everything, but we can agree that New York City should be safe for those who call it home. [...] If Michelle were still here, she would urge us to come together to build a safer community. This is not about politics; this is about caring for each other and humanity.”

That's unfortunately not a consensus in New York City. This sub has been one example of that.

If Michelle were still here and urging us to build a "safer community", she would be on the receiving end of fringe groups dishonestly accusing her of being a "far-right tough-on-crime conservative" for suggesting that NYC is not safe enough.

17

oceanblue966 t1_j4q9eph wrote

if not a death sentence or life in prison - the guy that pushed her needs to be sentenced permanently to a mental institution where is isolated from the world 24/7 in a confined room with zero windows and chance for escape. Deliver his food and water via the wall slots with zero human interaction. Clearly he is incapable of feeling anything, including empathy, so it isn't a punishment, but rather a safeguard for society & the institution housing him.

here we are a year later. barely any policy changes. yes more nypd on the subway & stations - but for how long? and where are the barriers at subway stations that would prevent so many deaths from pushing? so many falls? medical emergencies where people fall onto the tracks?

a productive, tax paying, HOMELESS HELPING, member of society is dead because we place such a high value on the life and feelings of the type of person who murdered her. We have a good person in society, dead. And a bad person, not only alive, but being sustained by the tax dollars of other productive society members.

8

bbqcornnuts312 t1_j4qmscz wrote

To those of you who say this moved you to tears, posting the usual things about the NYPD and platform doors (which will never, ever be installed in all but a few stops and won't stop rapes, stabbings, or robberies), I pose this to you: what are you actually going to do about it?

Are you going to write a letter to your local state and city reps about this? Do you understand the fate of all the Martial Simons is impacted by judges, district attorneys, and lawmakers? That New Yorkers need to demand they do something for Michelle Go and all the other victims of attackers known to the public and police, left to rot in the street or to hurt people because the courts and the laws of this state say their "rights" to do so surpass our right to an uneventful ride home? The right to walk down a street that could use some more lighting, without being afraid of a brick to the skull?

I realize the people who will read this sort of post are mostly self-selecting and seem to take violence seriously, but I also suspect most of you that would read a longform from a grieving Asian father still really won't get it. You say this rips out your heart. You might see your own parents and family. You might even see yourself in Michelle Go. She was like many of you in many ways, not least in that unlike many NYC crime victims, she was upper middle class, educated, worked a white collar job, probably lived in a nice neighborhood, not a violent one where crime would be an ever-present personal concern. But she was still a woman, she took the subway, and most importantly, she was on the same platform as a man that told a psych doctor he thought about pushing a woman to death. That last thing is a choice someone made for her many times over.

Horrific beating or murder on video after the other, it never seems as if this is a priority to the vast majority of people that participate in this sub or live in this city - certainly not in Manhattan, where this happened, and where so many of these incidents occur. If it were, this would be deciding races.

People just post a comment about cops playing Candy Crush (as if their failures or role here is just that simple; the self-indulgence of it, when the same people also blame the cops for making arrests based on viral videos sent around by abolitionists that will lie for the cause...damned no matter what, useless or proactive, damned by the same redditors that can't even theoretically imagine what it's like to arrest someone that will escalate, kick, punch to avoid that) or the idea that free housing for Martial Simon will solve this, and leave it at that. That's as invested as they are. It's just another way of trivializing a woman's death and the many choices that preceded that fatal shove.

Meanwhile the lawmakers at least some of you put in office have shuttered prisons and hospitals with no comparable bridge, and gave those dollars to ideologically captured "community orgs" that do nothing, are not accountable to anyone. These people gave themselves a thirty percent salary increase for pisspoor performance on any of these problems, while New Yorkers are scrounging and paying $6 for a dozen eggs.

Are you even aware of it? Did it occur to you this is an issue that can be voted on, for all this bullshit about "mental health", the patronizing sloganeering? Haven't you figured out almost nobody in City Council or the state cares about preventing these incidents consistently through "mental healthcare" either, or that the problem of severe mental illness doesn't match up with their shitty solutions (favors to their friends)?

Martial Simon was paranoid schizophrenic, an addict, and a violent ex con that was cycled in and out of the psych system. There was clearly no followup after he was released for armed robbery. When Go was pushed, people here posted they recognized him from the 4 and 5 train. His own sister said he refused to take his meds. What agency is working on that at any level of government, when we're talking about thousands of men just like him?

https://web.archive.org/web/20220205100916/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/nyregion/martial-simon-michelle-go.html

"Mr. Simon’s medical records have not been made public. But an advocate for homeless people who was given access to some of them said they show that in 2017 he told a psychiatrist at the state-run Manhattan Psychiatric Center that he thought he would push a woman to the train tracks someday."

He shouldn't have been on the street. He should have been told, now you're on parole, and you can either comply with medical treatment, or go back to jail. If he threatened people or was arrested for menacing, then he should have been banned from public transit. There are many things the city and state could do to help with this problem, and they refuse. They should face unending consequences for it.

They can get away with it because they know you won't do what very little you can do, and you won't punish them for their failure. Or worse, as someone else noted, most people will defend purposeful inaction, waste, condescension, and the active unraveling of our criminal justice system and psych wards, giving Martial Simon free reign of the streets.

Not even the Asian community of this city cares enough to stop voting for candidates that despise them and sneer at their screams for help, although that might be changing in Brooklyn.

Nothing has changed and nothing is going to change until those that - far from mere neglect - actively contribute to a this climate are punished. We can start by ceasing to vote for any candidate of either party that doesn't talk about this problem. Every primary season, Democratic candidates campaign on quality of life and safety, and every primary season, they lose to the most horrible people that run...because that's who is connected and gets big bucks from left orgs and from self-serving progressive donor class members that will be insulated from violence. Or think they are.

So I blame voters. I blame the press. I blame these people for lying during elections. There's no public forum anywhere in this whole city where people really seem to take what they say their feelings are (anger, grief, fear after these incidents), put them to action, and demand material outcomes. It makes these discussions and the periodic, short-lived expressions of grief uncanny and seemingly false. Anyone who talks about this plainly is undermined, gaslit, insulted, or suppressed everywhere.

Unless you're willing to rise and demand better from your representatives and scuttle those that refuse to act, your posts about weeping reading this man's words are like everything else in the average self-absorbed New Yorker's/redditor's day: you're just briefly distracted because this piece talks about death, and it's coming from someone that reminds you of your own parent.

But this is a man describing a loss he will never recover from. Like most survivors of homicides, they likely will never actually have recourse against all the people that knew who Martial Simon was, knew he was dangerous, and just let him stalk the subways. No lawsuits, no legal changes, nothing at all to hold the state or lawmakers that have invoked Michelle Go's name to campaign accountable for their own voting records, and the lie it puts to their performative tears. This family is serving his own life sentence. They will never be granted belief their daughter/sister a frightening, violent, wholly preventable death because someone thought she deserved to be pushed.

We keep seeing these attacks due to the incompetence or zealotry embedded in our courts, state agencies, and lawmaking bodies. We hand power to lobbying orgs that are diametrically opposed to implementing restraints on dangerous, antisocial behavior - and I'm sorry, but yes, that includes jail for breaking the law against victims and injuring them. These incidents are systemic.

So how come nobody responsible, like the parole board, is being punished or reformed? How come no one in the media is asking about it or what lawmakers are doing to change this, and then following up in six months or in subsequent cases with all the Martial Simons out there? How come there was no press conference about the agencies responsible for men like Martial Simon, and how they're going to handle the mentally ill? I saw a bunch of bullshit about violence interruptors from City Council members. I continue to see members of the legislature use Michelle Go's name to campaign for the status quo of favoring the rights of Martial Simon and those that are dangerous to others, over those of the victims, you, and me. That's all this is to them. A campaign event and a cash grab in return for worse than nothing.

I'm not just sad. I'm angry. I'm a changed person after the last few years in this city, watching people be beaten or murdered on camera. Are you?

I want someone with power to help, and follow through.

15

4zem t1_j4r4d1p wrote

Replying to York_Villain (#1,387,589)

Extreme right wing? Lmfao what?

And yes they are, the same shit with a different name. Keep slurping up that kool-aid kiddo, the government is not coming to save you or anyone else.

0

York_Villain t1_j4r6iv5 wrote

Replying to 4zem (#1,387,733)

It's not what I say. It is a fact. You can try and insult me all you want, but that doesn't change the FACT that you visit and participate in extreme right wing subreddits. So when you say both sides are the same, not only are you wrong but you are being disingenuous.

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4zem t1_j4r759q wrote

Replying to York_Villain (#1,387,758)

I’m supposed to navigate the Internet to your standards now? Sure, I use reddit but I’m supposed to tiptoe around every subreddit and know their EXACT political leanings? Get fucked, honestly. People like you is exactly what is wrong with the world. You’d gate-keep whatever you could, whenever you could, and what’s best is you allow your inclinations to serve as canon. So yeah, I’ve visited around particular subreddits like most people navigating this site - doesn’t mean what you say is true.

And yes. Both sides aim for the same goal. To rob the hard working man blind. What they accomplish in the interim may be different but the end goal is the same. Rob from the poor and give to the rich.

0

jl250 t1_j4r8gx4 wrote

Replying to Evening_Presence_927 (#1,386,644)

>be a Republican.

No, he's not; if he were, he might actually do something like the only two mayors in our lifetimes to do something about crime - Giuliani and Bloomberg. The only two to actually care.

5

READERmii t1_j4rv6tc wrote

Replying to BeBackInASchmeck (#1,389,030)

How do we know it was anti-asian hate? Was the killer non Asian?

Edit: Why am I being down voted for asking a question the article literally says:

> We do not have all the answers, and we may never know whether her death was motivated by racial animus.

−2

jl250 t1_j4rvop6 wrote

Replying to Evening_Presence_927 (#1,388,141)

None of what you have written above is based in reality.

The controversy around policing during their terms was the practice of stop and frisk. I think stop and frisk is easy to criticize.

Now, I ask you - what is better, being stopped and questioned by police, or being hacked to death with machetes on a Bronx street like Lesandro Guzman?

Were we better off during stop-and-frisk, or in 2022 when 150 KIDS were shot, making them 1 out 10 shooting victims?

Maybe you DGAF about these kids, or the other shooting victims, because they are overwhelmingly in places like the South Bronx and East NY.

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Evening_Presence_927 t1_j4s7j3t wrote

Replying to jl250 (#1,389,144)

> The controversy around policing during their terms was the practice of stop and frisk.

Lmao not even close

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Gray_(police_officer)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Amadou_Diallo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Anthony_Baez

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Dorismond

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Ousmane_Zongo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Timothy_Stansbury

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Sean_Bell

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_Park_alleged_police_sodomy_incident

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Schoolcraft

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Premo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Ramarley_Graham

All of those incidents happened during Giuliani and Bloomberg’s administrations. They have some serious blood on their hands.

> Were we better off during stop-and-frisk, or in 2022 when 150 KIDS were shot, making them 1 out 10 shooting victims?

Lmao you do realize that doesn’t help your case, right? Especially, given the plainclothes unit was reinstated last year.

> Maybe you DGAF about these kids, or the other shooting victims, because they are overwhelmingly in places like the South Bronx and East NY.

Lmao don’t act like you care about them, prick. You’re just using them as pawns in your argument for more fascist police measures.

−3

Evening_Presence_927 t1_j4s8nte wrote

Replying to 4zem (#1,387,789)

No, but it’s very telling the connection between the places you visit and the garbage you spout.

> Both sides aim for the same goal. To rob the hard working man blind. What they accomplish in the interim may be different but the end goal is the same. Rob from the poor and give to the rich.

Lmao you’re trolling if you think the biggest investment in clean technology and clean industries ever doesn’t help the poor.

−1

jl250 t1_j4sdwe5 wrote

Replying to Evening_Presence_927 (#1,389,821)

Just...wow, at this comment. This is really not worth my time, but you should try to learn about statistical significance. You just shared 12 examples of tragedies spanning like 15 YEARS. I remember these incidents - some of them, like Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo are probably some of the defining events of my childhood as an NYC kid.

Twelve tragedies over 15 years do not represent a trend. Many more than 12 people die per year from their TVs falling on them, falling down stairs, slipping in the bathtub, etc.

As a 120 lb. woman, I wasn't really the target of stop-and-frisk, but I sure care about my father (who is constantly stopped and asked if he is Ice-T), and my older brother (who strongly resembles Mace, the 90s rapper). I have never once stayed up at night thinking about them being stopped and frisked, I sure do worry about them catching a stray bullet in the Bronx, from the gangs who are running unabated.

Finally, I realize there are a lot of bored white people like you (as revealed by "prick" and "fascist") who want a pet project or something, but minorities are not it. We don't need your "help". Stop promoting hatred of and undermining the police. *We* live in the high crime neighborhoods and public housing that are ravaged by gangs, not you.

If you want a cause, go to the ASPCA shelters and help some homeless dogs.

2

Evening_Presence_927 t1_j4t8cc6 wrote

Replying to jl250 (#1,390,179)

> Twelve tragedies over 15 years do not represent a trend

Lmao this is so obviously made in bad faith. If they all have a similar pattern or common denominator, it absolutely is a trend.

> I remember these incidents - some of them, like Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo are probably some of the defining events of my childhood as an NYC kid.

So you know the NYPD isn’t to be trusted.

> As a 120 lb. woman

Sure bro

> I sure care about my father (who is constantly stopped and asked if he is Ice-T), and my older brother (who strongly resembles Mace, the 90s rapper)

r/thathappened

> Finally, I realize there are a lot of bored white people like you (as revealed by "prick" and "fascist") who want a pet project or something, but minorities are not it. We don't need your "help". Stop promoting hatred of and undermining the police. We live in the high crime neighborhoods and public housing that are ravaged by gangs, not you.

Lmao just because you refuse to acknowledge a problem doesn’t mean it’s not there. I’m not promoting hatred of anything. These guys are doing it to themselves, so fuck you for trying to defend the police for behaving badly. I guarantee you wouldn’t feel the same if it happened in your community.

1