NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — One month after a man shoved his girlfriend into an oncoming train in a Manhattan subway station, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that he was indicted for attempted murder and assault.
Christian Valdez, 35, is accused of throwing his 29-year-old girlfriend, Ada Blake, in front of an arriving southbound 3 train during an argument at the Fulton Street station in lower Manhattan on the morning of March 9.
Prosecutors said that multiple eyewitnesses called 911 to report the incident, and when officers arrived, she was underneath the train.
Blake was taken to the hospital where both of her legs had to be amputated, and she also suffered from rib fractures and a blood clot in her lungs, officials said.
William C., a Good Samaritan with a military background who aided Blake before first responders arrived, told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880 that Blake was very strong.
"She was very lucid, frantic, but for the most part lucid. She said something to the effect of, she definitely said that she does not deserve this. She held a part of her flesh to show me that she might have lost her leg."
Valdez, whose address was listed by police as the Tillary Street Women's Shelter in Downtown Brooklyn, fled to New Jersey.
Officers arrested him when he returned to lower Manhattan hours later wearing the same clothes from the time of the attack.
The defendant is charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault, both class B felonies.
"[Valdez's] alleged vicious actions caused serious and permanent injuries, including the amputation of both of the victim's legs," Bragg said Thursday. "We take all acts of violence against riders very seriously, and my thoughts are with the victim as she navigates this terrible and horrifying incident."
Public records show that at the time of the incident Valdez was on parole for a Bronx 2020 attempted assault conviction; he was sentenced to up to eight years in prison, but was released in January 2023.
At the time of his arrest, the New York Daily News reported that Valdez had also been charged in the stabbing of a woman and her three-year-old child in the Bronx in 2017. The Daily News covered the incident at the time.
Police sources also told the Daily News that Valdez had a total of four previous assault arrests on his record.
