A Brooklyn man hit with assault charges Wednesday for allegedly shoving two straphangers onto the subway tracks denied being the culprit in the attacks, which prosecutors said left an elderly Air Force veteran brain-dead and likely to die.
Bairon Hernandez, 34, was charged with two counts of first-degree assault at his Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment for the back-to-back shovings that occurred Sunday morning on the F and Q platform at the Lexington Ave.-63rd St. station.
Urging the court to remand Fernandez, Assistant District Attorney Mary DeCamp said the Honduran national had two previous convictions in New Jersey and Texas related to illegally entering the U.S. The outcome of those cases was not immediately available.
“This is a strong case where the defendant pushed two people onto subway tracks and then fled,” DeCamp said at the proceeding. “The defendant is on surveillance video and also in a recorded video taken by a victim. There are many eyewitnesses in this case.”
Richard Williams, an 83-year-old Air Force vet with critical head injuries, has since been fighting for his life. Jhon Rodriguez, 30, was also targeted and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The man’s attorney with New York County Defender Services, Michael Papson, urged Judge Janice Chen to set bail and rejected the prosecution’s characterizations, saying his client adamantly denied he was behind the assaults and had lived in the city more than a decade without incident.
Papson said Fernandez had strong community ties — living with a roommate in Brooklyn, employed at the same job for 14 years, and with his father living close by in Jersey City.
“He vehemently denies these allegations,” Papson said. “He’s never been arrested in the state of New York — ever.”
Fernandez, wearing a mint green hoodie and Adidas sweatpants, had a somber demeanor at the hearing. Chen held him on bail sums ranging from $100,000 to $300,000.
Following the attacks, both men were taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where Williams remains on life support and Rodriguez was treated for his injuries to his head, arm and neck and released.
In an interview with the Daily News Tuesday from her father’s bedside, Williams’s daughter, Debbie Williams, said he hadn’t spoken since he was hospitalized and that his family is bracing for the worst.
Debbie said her dad, a father of three daughters and grandad to two granddaughters living on Roosevelt Island, was in good health and spirits, having recently beaten cancer and celebrated 55 years of marriage.
In court Wednesday, DeCamp indicated his condition had not improved.
“One of the victims is currently brain-dead, so unfortunately, there’s a high likelihood that person will die,” the prosecutor said.
Police took Hernandez into custody Tuesday at a homeless shelter in Brooklyn after someone called the NYPD in response to photos law enforcement disseminated to the public, police sources previously told The News.
Fernandez is due back in court Friday.
NYPD statistics show subway crime is on the rise, up by 13% as of March 1. Felony assaults in the system are up 12%, with 105 incidents reported in transit this year, compared with 94 by this time in 2025.
