A woman accused of fatally pushing a man into the path of a subway train assaulted a female correction officer shortly after arriving at a hospital emergency room in Queens, a city official said on Wednesday.
The woman, Erika Menendez, 31, apparently grew agitated on Monday after she caught a glimpse of herself on the television news in the emergency room at Elmhurst Hospital Center, according to Robin Campbell, a spokesman for the New York City Correction Department.
“She was emerging from a bathroom when she became upset at seeing herself on the television, and she lashed out at the officer,†Mr. Campbell wrote in an e-mail on Wednesday. “She pulled the officer's hair and, in the process, hit her face.â€
A second correction officer quickly intervened, grabbing Ms. Menendez's arm and quelling the attack. Ms. Menendez was handcuffed at the time, Mr. Campbell said.
He described the episode as “an assault,†but said the officer was not injured and no charges would be filed against Ms. Menendez.
Ms. Menendez was transferred to Elmhurst from the Rikers Island jail after a judge ordered her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
During her arraignment on Saturday, the judge, Gia L. Morris, reprimanded Ms. Menendez for smiling and laughing during the hearing. Ms. Menendez has a history of mental illness and violent behavior, according to relatives and the police.
Ms. Menendez, of Rego Park, Queens, was arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime in the death of Sunando Sen, an Indian immigrant. The police said she shoved Mr. Sen, 46, into an oncoming No. 7 train at the 40th Street-Lowery Street station in Sunnyside, Queens, last Thursday.
According to prosecutors, Ms. Menendez told investigators, “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers.â€
