Man who paralyzed woman in NYC subway shove sentenced to 20 years in prison
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A woman left paralyzed after being forced onto a moving subway train in New York City confronted her attacker in court Wednesday, describing years of pain, trauma and loss.
Emine Yılmaz Özsoy stated that she has not experienced “even a moment of peace” since the 2023 attack and said, “I am in this situation because of his treacherous act.” According to Fox 5 New York.
“There are no words that can fully describe the pain and struggle I have endured over the past three years,” he said, adding that he has undergone multiple surgeries and “countless” therapy sessions.
Özsoy said she could no longer continue her career and faced daily challenges, relying on others for basic needs while also coping with ongoing anxiety and financial difficulties.
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Police escort Kamal Semrade after the hearing in Manhattan. (Fox 5 New York)
A judge sentenced Kamal Semrade, 42, to 20 years in state prison after a Manhattan jury convicted him of attempted murder and first-degree assault.
According to the press, Judge Althea Drysdale called the attack “extremely disturbing” and imposed the sentence requested by prosecutors.
“The sheer randomness of this incident is extremely disturbing,” Drysdale said, according to Fox 5, adding that the defendant showed no remorse.
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Kamal Semrade appears in court during sentencing in Manhattan. (Fox 5 New York)
Fox 5 reported that Semrade did not speak during the hearing and did not show any signs of emotion.
Prosecutors said the attack was unprovoked.
Semrade followed Özsoy, who took the same train from Queens early in the morning on May 21, 2023. Lexington Boulevard-63. He approached her from behind at the street station and grabbed her by the head and neck and pushed her into a moving subway car.
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Emine Yılmaz Özsoy speaks in court during the sentencing of the defendant guilty of the 2023 subway attack. (Fox 5 New York)
His head hit the train and his spine was broken before he was thrown back onto the platform. Following emergency surgery, he is paralyzed from the shoulders down.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, while Semrade was running away from the station immediately after the attack, he seriously injured Özsoy on the platform.
He later returned to the Queens shelter where he was living and put the clothes he had worn during the attack in the laundry room. Shelter workers identified him through an NYPD CrimeStoppers alert, leading to his arrest two days later.
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the attack “uprooted his life” and caused “catastrophic, permanent injuries, including paralysis.”
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Emine Yılmaz Özsoy, before the subway attack that changed her life in 2023. (GoFundMe)
“After the attack, Semrade callously fled, leaving the victim helpless on the platform,” Bragg said. “While nothing can make up for the profound harm caused, I hope this sentence brings some measure of justice.”
Semrade, who prosecutors said worked as a delivery driver and had no prior criminal record, did not speak during sentencing, Fox 5 reported.
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In the years since the attack, Özsoy has documented his recovery on a fundraising page, writing that “my life changed in an instant” when he suffered a serious spinal cord injury.
“When I woke up in the ICU after surgery, I felt like everything about my life was uncertain,” he wrote.
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After years of rehabilitation and numerous surgeries, Özsoy said he regained some independence, including the ability to use a computer and return to his art, but his recovery is ongoing.
“Each of these steps represents hours of therapy, patience, and hard work,” he wrote.
