NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A man who allegedly shoved his girlfriend onto subway tracks in a Manhattan station as a train was arriving on Saturday morning was located by police later that night and charged with attempted murder.
Christian Valdez, 35, was arrested in lower Manhattan at 9:35 p.m. Police said that he was charged with attempted murder and felony assault in relation to the domestic violence incident.
Police listed Valdez’s address as the Tillary Street Women’s Shelter in Downtown Brooklyn.
The victim was identified by police as Ada Blake, 29.
Blake had both of her feet cut off at around 10:30 a.m. when Valdez allegedly pushed her onto subway tracks during a dispute at the Fulton Street subway station. An arriving southbound 3 train struck her, resulting in her feet being severed.
William C, a bystander who went to help Blake, told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880 that she seemed to be “in a good place” and exhibited strength during the incident.
“I hope she’s good, She’s really strong,” he said. “Hopefully she didn’t lose too much of her abilities.”
The New York Daily News reported that Valdez is a parolee who was charged in the stabbing of a woman and her 3-year-old child in the Bronx. The Daily News covered the 2017 incident at the time, and said that he also threatened to throw the child off a fire escape.
The adult victim, Jenny Aquino, filed a lawsuit against her building management company for not providing proper security measures to keep criminals out and residents safe. Court records show that Aquino settled with GMZ Properties LLC for $225,000 last year.
Police sources told the Daily News that Valdez has four previous assault arrests on his record.
Public records show that Valdez is on parole for a 2020 Bronx attempted assault conviction. He was sentenced to up to eight years in prison, but was released in January 2023 on parole.
The attack comes amid a 2024 spike in transit crime that prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to deploy 1,000 service members from the National Guard, state police and MTA police into subway stations.