The New York Post's Dec. 4, 2012, front page shows Han Ki-suck about to be crushed by a subway train at the 49th Street station. / Korea Times file



By Ko Dong-hwan





Naeem Davis / AP-Yonhap

A Sierra Leone man dubbed the "subway fiend" after he pushed a Korean man to his death on a Manhattan subway track in 2012 has been acquitted of murder.

A jury of seven women and five men also found Naeem Davis, 34, not guilty of charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, according to the New York Times.

Monday's decision came after a three-week trial, testimonies from more than 30 witnesses and four days of deliberations. Davis, who has been in city jails for four-and-half years, insisted it was self-defense against Han Ki-suck, 58, who had accosted him in the city's 49th Street subway station.

Jury forewoman Gretchen Pfeil, who teaches linguistic anthropology at New York University, said after the verdict: "I think the vast majority of us from the beginning of our deliberations believed the prosecution had failed to prove the defendant was not justified in his actions. And by the end of our deliberations, I believe we were of one mind that he was in fact justified in his actions."

About 12:30 p.m. on December 3, 2012, Han, who was drunk, accosted and swore at Davis, a homeless refugee, after they accidentally bumped into each other near a turnstile.

Han followed Davis down to the subway platform and kept harassing him, grabbing his shoulder. Davis, frustrated, shoved him away, causing the Korean to fall onto the tracks.

Han was too drunk to climb back and a train crushed him to death a few minutes later. Davis reportedly "freaked" and fled, according to the Daily Mail.

The incident received wide attention after The New York Post showed a photo of Han about to be crushed by the train, headlined "Doomed."