Over in Toronto, Canada, a young woman, in her 20's, was standing on a
train platform waiting for her train to arrive, at about 11:30 this
morning. Suddenly, just before the train pulled into the station, a man
walked over and deliberately pushed her forward, onto the train tracks. She
was caught completely by surprise and fell to the tracks, then was
apparently crushed by the train, or at least part of her body was. She was
rushed to the hospital and is in critical condition.
There were witnesses to the incident, and police have arrested a man, no
charges have been filed at this time, but of course if this is the man who
pushed her, it's only a matter of time before he is formally charged. This
man is apparently not a husband or boyfriend, but a complete stranger to
the woman. There is no known motive for the attack.
There might not be a "clear motive" from the point of view of society,
but I have no difficulty figuring out a possible motive. This man may very
well have been enraged, full of hate and a desir to destroy/annihilate a
human life. He may have spent years fantasizing about pushing a young woman
in front of a train, and enjoying those fantasies. For whatever reason, he
may have decided this morning, to turn those fantasies into reality. He
doesn't need to "know" this woman personally, to achieve cathartic release
of rage by pushing her in front of a train. He felt the overwhelming
desire/urge/need/compulsion to turn a fantasy of his into reality, and that
is exactly what he did.
Random and unprovoked violence. Your society claims not to "understand"
it. It always looks for a "logical motivation" in violent acts. But that is
ridiculous. Your society itself is not operating on a level of logic or
rationality. It is ridiculous for society to try and find logic in the
actions of it's citizens, when the society itself is profoundly illogical.
What this man did very likely made perfect sense to him. It's too early
to tell what type of mindset he may have had to provoke this act, but in
all likelihood, the act made perfect sense and logic to the ONLY person
that it NEEDED to make sense and logic to, namely the man who pushed this
woman in front of the train.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's United Press International
news wire:
Toronto woman pushed onto subway track
United Press International
Fri, 26 Sep 1997
TORONTO, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- A young Toronto woman has been seriously
injured after being pushed onto the track of a subway station as a train
was arriving.
Police have declined to release the woman's name before her family members
are notified, but say she is in her 20s and is in critical condition in St.
Michael's Hospital where she has been receiving emergency treatment.
Police have arrested one man and have been talking to two witnesses, but
no charges have been laid and no names have been released so far.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Toronto Police says the incident occurred
as a southbound train was arriving at the Dundas station in downtown Toronto.
The man, who was apparently a total stranger to the woman, allegedly
pushed her onto the track as the train was coming to a halt.
Witnesses say the woman was crushed and seriously injured, but later
appeared to be conscious when she was being taken in a stretcher to an
ambulance outside the station.
Police have not said what the motive for the attack was, and witnesses say
the woman seems to have been taken completely by surprise.
The incident occurred about 11.30 a.m. EDT and the Toronto Transit
Commission closed the Dundas station for more than two hours as police
investigated.
The TTC used shuttle buses to take commuters past Dundas and three other
stations affected by the closure.
Over in Toronto, Canada, the 23 year old woman who was pushed in front
of a subway train yesterday has been publicly identified as Charlene
Minkowski, and she is dead today. Yup, she died of her injuries a few hours
after being rushed to the hospital.
She was the pushee. Our pusher has also been identified. He is 41 year
old Herberg Cheong, who was apparently homeless or a drifter. He will be
charged with murder today, since Charlene did die of her injuries. Herberg
was a complete stranger to Charlene, but he still felt enough rage & hate
towards her to feel 100% justified in pushing her in front of a train. This
is perfectly understandable to me, and Herberg did has a "motive", as far
as I'm concerned. His motive was rage & hate & venom & a desire for
vengeance against human beings, as a whole. The notion that he needed to
"personally know" a person in order to have a legitimate motive for killing
them, is patently ridiculous.
After Herberg pushed Charlene in front of the train, he made no attempt
to flee. He simply stood right there on the platform, leaning against a
pillar, until police arrived. He had a mission, he accomplished his
mission, and he was satisfied with his accomplishment. Personally I cannot
quite relate to why he would be satisfied with only pushing/killing ONE
human being, but I still fully respect the True Reality that compelled him
to stand there calmly and wait for police to arrive & arrest him.
One person who witnesses the fatal push apparently went over and talked
to Herberg after the incident, as he stood there awaiting police. Herberg
told this man that "She's the kind of people that laugh at me. She deserves
it". Rage and hate, folks, that is what your society incubates and grows in
it's pathetic culture. And this man merely acted out the legitimate rage &
hate that was instilled within him, by your society.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Reuters news wire:
TORONTO (Reuter) - Herberg Cheong was to be charged with murder Saturday
in connection with the death of a young woman pushed into the path of a
subway train, police told the Canadian Press news agency.
Charlene Minkowski, 23, died of multiple injuries in a hospital Friday,
nine hours after she was pushed in front of an oncoming train, said
Constable Gordon Mercer.
Cheong, 41, of no fixed address, was to appear in court to have an
attempted murder charge upgraded to first-degree murder, police told the
news agency.
Witnesses said it appeared at least two cars had passed over Minkowski.
Police said they arrested Cheong at the subway station. He and Minkowski
did not know each other and it is unknown what provoked the attack.
``He pushed her on the shoulder; she went down (onto the rails) and the
train was there,'' said Mike Severin, a courier who was one of about a
dozen people on the subway platform.
After the incident, the man later identified as Cheong ``just stood
there,'' leaning against a pillar, until police arrived, said Severin.
``I talked to him and he said something like: 'She's the kind of people
that laugh at me.' He said something about losing his job or home and that
'she deserves it.'''
01:33 09-27-97
Here is a slightly more detailed report on this incident in Toronto,
Canada, where a 41 year old fellow named Herbert Cheong, deliberately and
with no direct provocation, shoved a 23 year old woman in front of an
oncoming subway train, killing her. This incident occured yesterday, and a
few interesting details not given in the initial wire reports, are
presented here.
We get detailed accounts from eyewitnesses to the incident. Herbert is
described as not looking unusual in appearance or demeanor prior to the
fatal shove. "He just looked like your average person", states eyewitness
Mike Severin. Well Mike, that's because Herbert is a creation of your
society, and he knows the value of acting, in your lie-based culture. He
puts on his performance, just like you do, Mike. It just so happens that
yesterday, Herbert decided to DEMONSTRATE the true reality that exists
within him, to your society. And that is what he did.
We learn that Herbert pushed the woman on the shoulder, just seconds
before the train roared into the station and ran over her, as she lay on
the tracks. Herbert did not say ANYTHING before or during the attack. Why
should he say anything? Actions speak louder and clearer than words.
Especially violently homicidal actions.
After the attack, Herbert just stood there on the platform, leaning
comfortably against a pillar. This eyewitness also states that Herbert "Had
no remorse whatsoever". Ha! Damn, you humans are perverse. He just shoved
the woman to her death MINUTES earlier, and ALREADY this eyewitness was
searching for "remorse" in the demeanor and words of Herbert. Ridiculous.
Herbert knew what he wanted to do, and he did it. Only if he was mentally
unbalanced would he feel "remorse" minutes after the attack. Why do it, if
you are going to regret having done it, immediately after doing it?? Logic
is sorely lacking in all societies, folks.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of the 9/27/97 online edition of The
Toronto Globe And Mail newspaper:
Pushed woman killed by train
Suspect to be charged with first-degree murder
Saturday, September 27, 1997
By Henry Hess
Crime Reporter
TORONTO -- A young woman died in hospital last night of massive injuries
hours after a man shoved her in front of a subway train in what appears to
have been a horrifying act of random violence.
Witnesses to the unprovoked attack, which occurred shortly before noon at
the Dundas station at Toronto's Eaton Centre, said the woman was waiting
for a train on the southbound platform when a man standing behind her
pushed her onto the track just as a train arrived.
They said it appeared that at least two cars passed over her.
Afterward, the man stayed in the station, leaning against a pillar, until
police arrived and took him away.
Charlene Minkowski, 23, was taken to St. Michael's Hospital with critical
injuries and died just after 9 p.m. A hospital spokeswoman said that family
members had asked that no details about her be released.
Herbert Cheong, 41, of no fixed address, was taken in custody at 52
Division and was questioned by homicide detectives.
Earlier, Mr. Cheong was charged with attempted murder. Police said Mr.
Cheong will be charged with first-degree murder at his first court
appearance this morning at the Old City Hall courts.
Police said Ms. Minkowski and Mr. Cheong did not know each other.
Police said Ms. Minkowski's family asked that the public respect their privacy.
Mike Severin, who works as a courier in downtown Toronto, said he was
among about a dozen people waiting on the subway platform for a southbound
train when the attack occurred.
He said in an interview that he saw a man standing in the station when he
arrived. He described the man as Asian, in his late 20s or early 30s,
dressed in blue jeans and a windbreaker and wearing glasses that were taped
at one corner.
There was nothing particularly unusual about him, Mr. Severin said. "He
just looked like your average person."
The woman, wearing a black skirt and green blouse or jacket, entered a few
minutes later, he said, and stood in front of them.
"I was on the platform and [the man] was there beside me."
Suddenly and without warning, the man thrust out his hand and shoved the
woman just as a train was entering the station, he said. "He pushed her on
the shoulder; she went down [onto the rails] and the train was there."
He said the man did not say anything, either before or during the attack
and afterward "he just stood there," leaning against a pillar.
Mr. Severin said he stood behind the pillar to make sure the man didn't
run away and pointed him out to the ticket collector.
"I talked to him and he said something like: 'She's the kind of people
that laugh at me.'
"He said something about losing his job or home and that 'she deserves it.'
". . . After that, I couldn't look at him because I wanted to kill him.
"He had no remorse whatsoever."
Vijay Sabharwal, who operates a newsstand in the Dundas station, said he
saw the man and woman standing on the platform while he was putting
magazines on a rack.
"I saw them both together. He pushed her in the back and she fell."
Afterward, he said, people on the platform were screaming at the man, but
he ignored them. "He didn't scare. He acted like he didn't do nothing."
******************************************************************************
"A work of art is a dream of murder which is realized by an
act"------------Sartre
******************************************************************************
>Hello,
>
> Over in Toronto, Canada, the 23 year old woman who was pushed in front
>of a subway train yesterday has been publicly identified as Charlene
>Minkowski, and she is dead today. Yup, she died of her injuries a few hours
>after being rushed to the hospital.
>
> She was the pushee. Our pusher has also been identified. He is 41 year
>old Herberg Cheong, who was apparently homeless or a drifter. He will be
>charged with murder today, since Charlene did die of her injuries. Herberg
>was a complete stranger to Charlene, but he still felt enough rage & hate
>towards her to feel 100% justified in pushing her in front of a train. This
>is perfectly understandable to me, and Herberg did has a "motive", as far
>as I'm concerned. His motive was rage & hate & venom & a desire for
>vengeance against human beings, as a whole. The notion that he needed to
>"personally know" a person in order to have a legitimate motive for killing
>them, is patently ridiculous.
>
I have little doubt that this man will be diagnosed as paranoid schiz.
Anybody who has a clue about this horrible disease will recognize that
he *did not* kill this woman out of rage or hate, or any type of
vengence. Motivation was DELUSIONS of persecution.
How many paranoid schizophrenics have you dealt with in your life joe?
My guess is very few. Amazing that you feel you can speak on behalf
of somebody that you know nothing about.
If he is infact paranoid schiz, then this man, when stable, will
undoubtly feel remorse and pain over this sad event.
Karen
Here is a very well written article on the fateful encounter that took
place Friday morning between Herbert Cheong and 23 year old Charlene
Minkowski. It certainly was fateful, because Charlene is not longer a
living being on planet earth, thanks to the actions and decisions of
Herbert. Yup, Herberyt pushed Charlene in front of an oncoming train,
killing her. This article does a great job of atmospherically recreating
the scene, as well as detailing the events of the Fateful Friday with
impressive clarity.
We do learn that Herbert DID have a psychiatric history, as well as an
apparent drug addiction to crack cocaine. He was living at a rooming house
which served as a transition facility for psychiatric outpatients, and he
was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. So Karen was right in her previous
post to this thread, where she mentioned this fact.
We learn a lot of details about Herbert's life, including the fact that
he has seven brothers & sisters, and that his father died just recently.
One of his fellow residents at the rooming house recalls driving Herbert to
his brother's house, and how this brother opened up the door to his house a
crack, shoved some money into Herbert's hands, and slammed the door shut.
Not allowing Herbert to even enter into the doorway or hall of the house.
This treatment did make Herbert angry, and rightly so, IMNSVHO.
We hear from police, who say that Herbert did not specifically target
Charlene for murder, but he apparently did specifically want to shove a
WOMAN in front of the subway train, not a man. Witnesses on the train
platform descibe Herbert's calmness prior to the fatal shove. It stands in
contrast to his behavior in recent days at the rooming house, where he
seemed agitated and got into arguments.
Well, I believe that once Herbert was there on the platform, he had
already decided what to do. And thus there was no agitation or confusion or
frustration in Herbert's mind. He wanted to end a female human life. To
shove a human in front of an onrushing train, causing her death. Once he
had firmly decided to do this, all his attention and energy began to focus
upon successfully accomplishing his task, and living out the True Reality
of the impending moment. Thus, we have extreme calmness and thoughtfulness
as the moment of truth approached. A heightened awareness of his own true
reality also permeated Herbert's mind as he recognized that a defining
moment of truth was about to occur.
After his arrest on the platform, Herbert was co-operative, and refused
an attorney. His mission had been accomplished. He is appearing in court
this morning for a bail hearing, and of course it's certain that bail will
be denied.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of the 9/29/97 online edition of The
Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper:
Wrong place, wrong time
Fate led strangers Minkowski and Cheong
to be in the same subway station
Monday, September 29, 1997
By Michael Grange and Jill Mahoney
The Globe and Mail
TORONTO -- Sometimes fate moves with the weight of a whisper . Sometimes
it moves with the bluntness of a stranger's rude shove and bystanders'
shocked screams.
The meeting of Herbert Cheong and Charlene Minkowski on Friday was no
whisper. Mr. Cheong is facing first-degree murder charges after he pushed
Ms. Minkowski in front of a subway train.
(Even though many of the facts are known, Mr. Cheong's criminal liability
can be determined only after a trial. Nothing in this article prejudges his
criminal liability.)
Friday started early for Herbert Cheong, at least by his standards.
Normally he favours sleeping in, but instead he woke by 7:30 a.m. and began
to pack his things at the Dowling Avenue rooming house he'd been living in
since February.
It didn't take long. The psychiatric outpatient wasn't much for
belongings, and whenever he had something worthwhile he'd sell them for
pocket money, which he often used for crack cocaine.
Friends at the house, a transition home for psychiatric outpatients, say
he had been using the drug regularly in the past few weeks. Tellingly, Mr.
Cheong was down to the bundle of clothes he kept stuffed at the end of his
bed. They all fit easily in his blue duffel bag.
He slipped out of the 10-by-8-foot second-floor room he had been sharing
for two months with Dennis Horniblow without saying goodbye. After cleaning
up in the washroom at the end of the hall, he went to the basement and
picked up his perphanizine -- the medication he takes three times daily to
ease symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia -- from the staff and was out of
the Parkdale-area house by 8 a.m.
The only things he left behind on Friday, hours before he shoved Charlene
Minkowski in front of a subway train, were a sweater, shoes and a well-worn
porn magazine.
Charlene Minkowski's day likely started the way all weekdays had since she
got a job this summer at a downtown Toronto law firm. The 23-year-old lived
with her parents and younger sister in a modest split-level house on a
quiet street in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga.
A graduate of Humber College's legal assistant program, Ms. Minkowski
loved her new job, in spite of the lengthy commute from her Glorene Court home.
Friendly and compassionate, she was already well-liked around the office
and had told her mother how she enjoyed her working environment.
Burdened by mental illness and drug addiction, the 41-year-old Mr. Cheong
had never been able to work. He relied on social assistance and occasional
handouts from family members to get by. He had been known to police for at
least 10 years, and was currently on probation.
Where he headed after taking his leave of 118 Dowling Ave. isn't known for
sure. One staff member said he may have gone to visit his brother in the
Broadview and Danforth area, a trip he would make three times a week,
usually to get some money -- about $15 at a time. Typically he would walk
up Dowling Avenue to King Street and catch the streetcar to Dundas West
subway station to take an eastbound train across the city.
Born and raised in Toronto, Mr. Cheong has seven brothers and sisters. His
mother died some years ago, his father only recently. His friends at the
rooming house say their companion said little about his upbringing, only
that money and space were tight. "He told me he remembered taking baths in
the sink," said Gerry Whyte, a long-time resident.
His relationship with his brother in the east end wasn't a close one,
though he spoke warmly of his sister, friends said. Alfie Cormier, another
resident at the Dowling Avenue rooming house, said he recalled driving Mr.
Cheong to his brother's on one occasion. "He wasn't even allowed in the
door," Mr. Cormier said. "It just opened up a crack and they handed him
some money and that was it. It really used to make him mad."
By all accounts, Kasmir and Barbara Minkowski's two daughters were raised
with love.
A deeply religious Catholic family, the Minkowskis attend nearby St.
Maximilian Kolbe church. Usually they went together, though when their
schedules didn't permit, Charlene and Vanessa made time to go on their own.
During a church service this year, Charlene caught up with the youngest
daughter of Florence Motyka, a family friend, who told her that her husband
had a tumour on his brain stem. "When she met Charlene and told her about
it, Charlene cried. So she's a very, very feeling person, very caring," Ms.
Motyka said.
Perhaps the family gained its strength through hardship.
When he was a young boy, Kasmir Minkowski and his family were driven out
of Poland and to Siberia by the Soviet regime, Mrs. Motyka said.
In the following years, Kasmir and his family lived in Africa and England,
finally settling in Canada when he was in his late teens or early 20s.
They found friendship and support in Toronto's close-knit Polish
community, through which Kasmir would eventually meet Barbara, who came to
Canada to live with an aunt when she was in her 20s.
Kasmir, now retired, worked as a labourer at a factory. Barbara has owned
her own business, worked as hairdresser and currently works in retail sales.
Coming from a good home showed Charlene the importance of close
relationships. She and her steady boyfriend were planning to marry.
"I think it was in the very near future," said Mrs. Motyka, who spent much
of this weekend at the Minkowskis, where Charlene's boyfriend grieved her death.
"He's crying all the time. He's heartbroken."
Relationships with anyone were elusive for Herbert Cheong, with women most
all. The prostitutes who frequented the Parkdale street corners near the
rooming house were often greeted with lewd gestures from him, although
there were occasions -- when he had managed to get his hands on some crack
-- they huddled with him in secluded parts of a nearby parking garage.
A friend says it wasn't uncommon for Mr. Cheong to see a woman and talk
about what sexual acts he would like to perform on her, and what he
believed she would like to do to him.
About two weeks ago he and Mr. Cormier took a walk to a doughnut shop
where they would often go to buy smuggled cigarettes. A woman was there, a
stranger, and Mr. Cheong quickly started making sexual comments to her,
getting himself slapped in the process.
Many times, however, he was more reflective, Mr. Whyte said. "He told me
one time he was riding the subway and he could hear these girls laughing at
him. He said they were making fun of his private parts."
Kim Karr, one of the Metropolitan Toronto Police homicide investigators on
the case, described Mr. Cheong's attack on Ms. Minkowski as unprovoked, but
said her presence on the subway platform made her vulnerable.
"He wasn't targeting this particular victim, it was any female victim who
happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Witnesses say Ms. Minkowski came into the Dundas subway station shortly
before the 11:34 a.m. southbound train. Dressed in a green blouse and black
skirt, the petite brown-haired woman paid her fare and took a spot on the
platform a few feet from the edge amid dozens of strangers at the busy stop.
There's no indication she noticed or paid any attention to the roughly
five foot, seven-inch short-haired man standing at a pillar behind her.
Police say she was there on an errand from work, either doing research at
a library or fetching documents for her firm.
"She was working. She travelled the subways within the course of duty,"
said Detective Constable Andrew Hassall of the homicide squad. "The only
reason she was down there was work-related, coming or going to her office."
It isn't clear how Herbert Cheong ended up standing behind Ms. Minkowski
in the green-tiled subway station underneath the corner of Yonge and Dundas
Streets, which handles crowds coming to and from the Eaton Centre.
That part of town was familiar to him, however. When he had time and money
he and friends from the rooming house would make their way downtown from
Parkdale. Sometimes they would take the streetcar along King Street and
walk north on Yonge Street, window shopping. Other times they would take in
a movie at the mall's multiplex cinema.
Witnesses say he seemed normal, not at all agitated, in the minutes before
the train came. He hadn't been that calm for days. An argument at the
rooming house on Wednesday led to his throwing milk at someone in the
kitchen. On Thursday it was a shouting match with staff over house rules.
It was only Friday morning when he made his decision to leave that he
seemed at ease.
On the platform, when the train came roaring into the tunnel, displacing
the still air with a great whoosh, the man with the tape on his glasses
standing behind the attractive young woman certainly didn't seem a threat
to anyone.
But then he stepped forward and gave Charlene Minkowski a hard shove, a
split second before the train passed the spot where fate had them both
standing.
Witnesses say at least two cars passed over Ms. Minkowski. Rescue workers
rushed her to St. Michael's Hospital. Surgeons attempted to save her, but
her multiple injuries were too severe. She died around 9 p.m., seconds
after being taken off life support. Ms. Minkowski is to be buried tomorrow.
Mr. Cheong remained on the platform, waiting for police to arrest him. A
witness who spoke to him said he told him, "She's the kind of people that
laugh at me."
Police said he was co-operative during questioning and refused a lawyer.
Mr. Cheong is to appear in court for a bail hearing this morning.
> Wrong place, wrong time
>
> On the platform, when the train came roaring into the tunnel,
> displacing
> the still air with a great whoosh, the man with the tape on his
> glasses
> standing behind the attractive young woman certainly didn't seem a
> threat
> to anyone.
>
> But then he stepped forward and gave Charlene Minkowski a hard
> shove, a
> split second before the train passed the spot where fate had them
> both
> standing.
And the moral of our story is......STAND BACK!!!!
glas
--
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I think the moral of the story is: People spend billions to build a
subway to transport people but not a dime to build a retaining wall to
save those unfortunate enough to fall in front of our fabulous
transportation mechanism. Transportation > human life.
-Hoover
-Hoover
- - -
About twentyfive or more years ago, the nations Do-Gooders
went to court to get people out of mental institutions saying that had a
right to be out on the street. Most of the mental places are closed and
the patients wander the streets, freeze in winter and sometimes kill
people. I beleive that the City of New York did a study on homless people
two years ago and discovered that most of them should be institutionilzed
for their own protection.
- - -
>Joe1orbit wrote:
>
>> Wrong place, wrong time
>>
>
>> On the platform, when the train came roaring into the tunnel,
>> displacing
>> the still air with a great whoosh, the man with the tape on his
>> glasses
>> standing behind the attractive young woman certainly didn't seem a
>> threat
>> to anyone.
>>
>> But then he stepped forward and gave Charlene Minkowski a hard
>> shove, a
>> split second before the train passed the spot where fate had them
>> both
>> standing.
>
>And the moral of our story is......STAND BACK!!!!
>
>
I LOVE IT! I wish we would all act on our impulses! This guy definately acted
on his. I wonder if he copped a feel as he shoved her over. The world may
never know.
> I wonder if he copped a feel as he shoved her over. The world may
> never know.
"Copped a feel????" My, is that written by a teen per chance?
Haven't heard that phrase in a while...
PattyC
PattyC
- - - - - -
Very good, but since I am long past my teenage years It does bring back some
memorable teenage moments...... ahhh..memories... (its a guy thing Patty)
Jigsaw
>I LOVE IT! I wish we would all act on our impulses! This guy definately acted
> on his. I wonder if he copped a feel as he shoved her over. The world may
> never know.
I doubt it, since the pictures show him as having only one
arm, or, alternatively, I am the victim of indiscriminate
photojournalism. Help me out folks...am I mistaken in this?
You really are a VERY SICK puppy, you know that?