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NY subway shoving suspect's father says son was ‘acting weird’ lately, ‘Somebody put something in his weed’
“Lately he’s been going through something, some mental issue,” 23-year-old suspect Kamel Hawkins' father, Shamel Hawkins, said.
The father of a Brooklyn man who allegedly pushed a straphanger into an incoming 1 train this week has said his son was fine even three weeks back, but then started “acting weird.” 23-year-old Kamel Hawkins shoved a 45-year-old man onto the tracks at the 18th Street station in a random attack, but the victim miraculously survived.
“Lately he’s been going through something, some mental issue,” Shamel Hawkins, 40, the suspect’s father, told New York Post. Kamel was recently ordered held without bail at his arraignment on attempted murder charges in Manhattan Criminal Court.
“We think somebody put something in his weed,” the father said. “About three weeks ago he was all right and then he started acting weird. We wanted to get him help but he refused.”
‘He needs mental help’
The elder Hawkins said that Kamel initially lived in the Whitman Houses public housing complex with his father and brother, but moved to a shelter later. He has been charged with attempted murder and assault.
Shamel said he had no idea his son had been accused of the attack, and that the two had even met over the holidays. “We saw him here [on] Christmas,” Shamel said. “I just saw him on Christmas right here. Oh no, I can’t believe this.”
He added, “He needs help. We love him but we can’t help him not when he refused the help we tried to connect him with. We try to help but if he don’t want it what can we do? “He needs help. He needs mental help.”
Kamel reportedly has at least three prior busts. On one occasion, he assaulted an NYPD cop in Queens in June 2019 by allegedly body-slamming the officer, who was left with back injuries. “Anyone who attacks a cop in full uniform is capable of doing far worse to defenseless civilians,” NYPD Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Hendry previously said. “Every time the justice system drops the ball on an assault on a police officer, it puts every New Yorker in danger.”
