Metro

Judge rules Muslim-hating subway ‘pusher’ fit to stand trial

TRAGEDY: Busted suspect Erika Menendez allegedly told cops yesterday that hatred of Muslims over the 9/11 attacks led her to shove Sunando Sen — a Hindu — in front of a 7 train at this Queens station. Someone who answered the phone at her home said she’s bipolar.

TRAGEDY: Busted suspect Erika Menendez allegedly told cops yesterday that hatred of Muslims over the 9/11 attacks led her to shove Sunando Sen — a Hindu — in front of a 7 train at this Queens station. Someone who answered the phone at her home said she’s bipolar. (Seth Gottfried)

A Queens woman who allegedly shoved a man to his death in front of a No. 7 subway train last month was “found fit for trial” after her psychiatric evaluation was released today.

Erika Menendez allegedly pushed 46-year-old Sunando Sen into the Sunnyside train trains on December 29 because he is a “Muslim”, police said.

“According to the file, Menendez was found fit to stand trial,” said Queens Criminal Court Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt.

The 31-year-old assailant also has an outstanding reckless driving case from February 27, which is expected to be consolidated with the second-degree murder as a hate crime charges at her Supreme Court arraignment on January 29.

Menendez was nabbed after a Brooklyn tipster had called in after recognizing her on the street from surveillance video circulated by the NYPD, sources said.

Officers from the 71st Precinct busted her in Crown Heights after spotting her wearing the same jacket seen in a surveillance video recorded near the crime scene.

Menendez was picked up at about 5 a.m. on Empire Boulevard and Bedford Avenue, the sources said. She continued mumbling in coherently as investigators questioned her — and at one point asked where the R train was, the sources added.

Menendez initially denied being at the subway station at the time of the fatal push, telling cops she was smoking pot with a pal. She later admitted committing the attack, telling cops “I’ll just plead guilty,” a prosecutor said at the arraignment hearing.

In addition to the tip that led to her arrest, her brother also dropped a dime on her after seeing her on the news. But his tip played no role in her capture, according to law-enforcement sources told The Post at the time.

Sen, who was from Calcutta and co-owned a Manhattan print shop, was waiting for the train when Menendez came up from behind and shoved him to the tracks, the sources said.

His roommate, Akash Sarker, 20, said Sen was going home from the bank when the attack occurred.

Menendez, who alternated between sitting on the bench and pacing on the platform, was swearing to herself just before the attack, officials said.

She jumped from the bench and pushed him with both hands as the train came into the station, the sources said. Sen landed on the rail bed, where his head was crushed by the second car.

“I just pushed him in front of the train because I’d thought it’d be cool,” Menendez allegedly told investigators, calling the attack, “spontaneous.”

The doomed man desperately tried to climb back to the platform, but couldn’t get out of the way in time, a witness said.

Sen had recently started his business after suffering a stroke.

“He had a stroke a few months ago. He couldn’t work for a while,” Sarker said. “So we let him stay here. And then he opened his print shop.”