Scores of donors raise $183,000 for subway push vicitm
Scores of people have opened their hearts, and their wallets, to subway-push victim Emine Ozsoy as she ventures upon a difficult road to recovery.
Within just four days, more than 3,000 people have donated a whopping $183,400 to a GoFundMe page for the award-winning Turkish graphic artist.
The money will be earmarked for Ozsoy’s medical expenses, according to friends and relatives who put the post together.
Many of the donations have been small, about $25 a person, although one anonymous donor dropped $10,000 into the fund, according to the GoFundMe page.
On Sunday morning, Ozsoy was grabbed by a maniac who slammed her head against a moving train in a vicious, unprovoked attack as she made her way to work, police said.
She suffered several spinal fractures in the assault and is paralyzed from the neck down, police and prosecutors said.
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Kamal Semrade, 39, was arrested at a Queens shelter early Tuesday and is facing attempted murder and assault charges for the attack.
Semrade, a one-time cabbie and Fed-Ex employee was ordered held without bail at his arraignment early Wednesday.
“It’s a completely unprovoked incident,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Carolyn McGuigan said at Semrade’s arraignment, adding that Ozsoy suffered a “cervical spine fracture, broken fingers, a laceration on her scalp and damage to four major blood vessels.”
“She is currently paralyzed from the neck down,” the prosecutor said. “She is currently in critical condition and still has a risk of stroke or death.”
Police do not believe that Semrade and Ozsoy knew each other, although they both entered the subway system at the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave. train station that morning, police said.
Despite her critical injuries, Ozsoy is determined to get her life back, her husband Ferdi Ozsoy told reporters.
“Faith and hope are never-ending,” he said. “She’s young. She’s a strong woman. She’s a warrior.”