Willie Ames, 47, pictured from a previous arrest, was taken into custody Thursday morning for pushing a man onto New York City subway tracks
A man who was arrested after he allegedly pushed a Mexican immigrant onto New York City subway tracks has blamed the victim for the incident.
Willie Ames, 47, appeared in court on Friday and was arraigned on charges of attempted assault in the first, second and third-degree as a hate crime.
The convicted murderer’s lawyer Eliza Orlins said Ames ‘does maintain he is not the instigator of this incident,’ as reported by the New York Post.
Ames was taken into custody on Thursday morning on Staten Island following a police investigation into the hate crime assault last Friday. He’s been on parole since 2013 for a robbery charge.
Luis Lopez, 24, was taken to the hospital for cuts on his head after Ames allegedly shoved him onto the tracks head first following an argument.
According to the criminal complaint, Ames said during the assault: ‘You guys come here to take our jobs, and you bring drugs! F****** Mexicans, you people are dirty, you people are nasty!’
The incident occurred on a 4 train as it approached the Union Square station in Manhattan.
The convicted murderer’s lawyer Eliza Orlins said Ames ‘does maintain he is not the instigator of this incident’
Surveillance footage shows Ames wearing a red Make America Great Again hat at the time he committed the alleged hate crime against a 24-year-old Mexican immigrant
Lopez, a construction worker who immigrated to the US from Mexico six years ago, reported that Ames began harassing him and a friend on the 4 train.
He and his friend then chose to switch trains at the Union Square stop at 14th street to get away from Ames.
However, the suspect followed the men and punched Lopez in the head several times, according to police.
That’s when Ames shoved Lopez off the platform and onto the train tracks before running off.
According to the criminal complaint, Ames said during the assault: ‘You guys come here to take our jobs, and you bring drugs! F****** Mexicans, you people are dirty, you people are nasty!’
Ames appeared in court on Friday and was arraigned on charges of attempted assault in the first, second and third-degree as a hate crime
‘I don’t know why he targeted me,’ Lopez told the Daily News. ‘He started yelling that I was there to take his job and that we bring drugs here.’
‘I fell head-first,’ Lopez said. ‘My head hit the railing. I tried to get up, but lost consciousness. I couldn’t move. My friend jumped in to get me out. He saved my life.’
The police released the surveillance video of Ames in the red Make America Great Again hat – a symbol of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for president.
Ames was convicted of murder in Virginia and has a long criminal record. In 2008 he was arrested after allegedly throwing bleach at people in a deli and in 2015 he was accused of stabbing a man over a dice game, according to the Daily News.