A disturbed homeless man with a long history of mental illness was charged with attempted murder Wednesday in the subway-shoving attack of a 29-year-old straphanger in Brooklyn — and ordered held without bail.
Michael Medlock, 33, is accused of pushing the subway rider onto the tracks at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center subway station around 11:15 a.m. Sunday in a disturbing caught-on-video attack.
Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg said during Medlock’s arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court Wednesday that the suspect first accosted straphanger Ryan Schoenherr and his girlfriend aboard a northbound 4 Train after he woke up from a nap and snapped at the couple.
“You’re talking s—t about me,” Medlock allegedly yelled. “I’m going to f–k you up.”
He followed the couple off the train and shoved Schoenherr off the platform before fleeing the station, authorities allege.
When cops caught up with him Tuesday, Medlock allegedly told the officers, “there is no air on the train,” Rottenberg said.
“He must have been with his girl,” he allegedly told the officers. “He was just starting it. His girl tried to approach me so I pushed him.”
Defense attorney Rebecca Breslin argued for “reasonable bail” in the case, telling Judge Quyda Santacroce, “I think it is clear that my client is in need of services, not incarceration.
“Obviously these are very serious allegations but it does appear that the prosecution may have a difficult time… to sustain these charges,” Breslin said. “His intent was never to push anyone onto the tracks.”
But Santacroce ordered Medlock held without bail on two counts of attempted murder, one count of attempted assault, and one count of reckless endangerment.
Medlock’s grandmother, Athense Bolton, 78, told The Post this week that Medlock had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and had been living on the streets for nearly two years after management barred him from her East New York apartment building.
Records show that Medlock had been released without bail in September following an arrest for a pending burglary case.
He also served more than three years in state prison on a robbery conviction, and was released from the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining in 2009, state corrections records show.
Bolton said she had struggled to find help for her grandson for years but was unable.
She said she had called 311 “a lot of times” but was rebuffed, and was even denied a temporary order of protection because Medlock had not threatened her physically — although she feared he would.
Bolton said the boy had been living with her since he was five months old, after his mother, who was 14 when she gave birth to him in Texas, dropped him off at her home.
She said Medlock’s father — her son — was deported to Jamaica after serving a 21-year prison stint.
She said she continued trying to help her grandson, buying him clothes and food and leaving money for him with friends.
“I have been having problems with him since the third grade,” she told The Post. “He was taking medication and was okay for a little while. But then it wasn’t working anymore.”
