The 58-year-old father pushed off a New York City subway platform in front of an oncoming train was mourned at his funeral Thursday, a day after his accused attacker was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge.
Family and friends remembered Ki-Suk Han at a funeral home in Queens, where his 20-year-old daughter, Ashley, carried a photo of him and described how her dad urged her to go to college and live the American dream.
Late Wednesday night, a 30-year-old former deli worker was charged with shoving him off the 49th Street station platform. As he walked past reporters, Naeem Davis said: "He attacked me first. He grabbed me."
Prosecutor James Lin told the judge that Davis watched the Q train strike Han before leaving the station.
"This defendant never once offered any aid as the train approached the station. In fact, this defendant watched the train hit the victim. And according to witnesses, he then calmly put his coat back on, picked up his cup of coffee and left the station, seemingly indifferent to the welfare or fate of the victim," Lin said.
Davis' Legal Aid lawyer, Stephen Pokart, said outside court that his client "was involved in an incident with a man who was drunk and angry."
Davis is due back in court next week.
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Han's family spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday. Ashley Han said, "I just really wish I had one last chance to tell my dad how much I love him."
Asked Wednesday if she wished someone would have helped pull her father off the tracks, Han said it was difficult to dwell on the past.
"Yeah, the thought of someone helping him up in a matter of seconds would have been great... what happened has happened," she said.
The suspect's last known address was in a working-class neighborhood in Queens. The only neighbor who even vaguely remembered Davis was Charles Dawes, 80, who stays with his son two doors down.
Davis "came and went, came and went, and he always looked serious," Dawes said. "But I haven't seen him for three or four months."
