The father of a Brooklyn thug charged Tuesday with pushing a strap into an incoming train said his son was fine until three weeks ago, but then he started acting “weird.”
As her son Kamel Hawkins was ordered held without bail at his arraignment on attempted murder charges in Manhattan Criminal Court, Kamel Hawkins, 40, told the Post on Wednesday: He has some sort of mental problem.''
“We believe someone put something inside the marijuana,” Hawkins said. “About three weeks ago he was fine, but then he started acting strange. We wanted to get him help, but he came back.”
Hawkins lived with his father and brother in the Whitman House public housing complex.
Kamel Hawkins, 23, was arrested near Columbus Circle on Tuesday, just hours after police say he was attacked in a horrifying, unprovoked attack on Manhattan subway tracks with a straphanger.
Disturbing footage shows the 45-year-old victim running into the path of an incoming Route 1 train at 18th Street Station, but miraculously he survived with only a head injury.
The unidentified victim suffered severe injuries including four broken ribs, a fractured skull and a ruptured spleen, according to a criminal complaint filed in the incident early Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials said the man was lucky to fall into a “gutter” in the tracks beneath the train during the 1:30 p.m. attack.
Meanwhile, police charged Hawkins with attempted assault and battery.
Law enforcement officials say the suspect in the subway twister has at least three previous arrests, including one for assaulting an NYPD officer in Queens in June 2019. At that time, he is said to have rammed into the police officer, injuring his lower back.
“Those who attack officers in uniform can do far worse to defenseless civilians,” Patrick Hendry, president of the NYPD Police Benevolent Association, told The Post on Tuesday. “Every time the justice system launches an assault against a police officer, all New Yorkers are at risk.”
Mr. Hawkins also had a trial in Brooklyn since October for assault, harassment and weapons possession, and was arrested earlier in 2020, officials said.
