A homeless drifter last night confessed to tossing a Queens father onto a Times Square subway track, where he was fatally crushed by a Q train, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Naeem Davis, 30 was being grilled in the grisly death of Ki Suk Han, 58, who was struck in front of horrified onlookers Monday after trying desperately to scramble back to the platform.
Davis told police that he “stayed and watched” as the train hit Han, a law-enforcement source said.
“He said he heard his torso snap and he knew he was dead.”
Davis showed no remorse for causing Han’s death, another source said.
FiOS 1 News
COLLARED: Naeem Davis is in police custody yesterday after he was arrested in the gruesome murder of a straphanger he allegedly shoved onto the tracks Monday.
Davis — who has worked at the Pax eatery in Times Square and gets paid to help street vendors haul their tables to local garages — was picked up at about 1:30 p.m. yesterday near 50th Street and Seventh Avenue after a transit police captain on a coffee break recognized him.
The suspect, who has eight prior arrests in the city and a lengthy rap sheet in Pennsylvania, told cops he and Han “bumped into each and started arguing before getting to the turnstiles” and then “continued the confrontation” on the platform, sources said.
“He said the victim was harassing him and that he pushed him onto the tracks,” a source said.
“I begged him to leave me alone, and he wouldn’t,” Davis allegedly told police. “He wouldn’t stay away, and I pushed him.”
Davis is expected to be put through multiple lineups today at the Midtown North Precinct station house, sources said.
Han, a Korean immigrant who lived with his wife and teenage daughter in Elmhurst, had been headed to pick up a Korean passport when he crossed paths with his killer.
His distraught wife, who yesterday was making funeral plans, said she and her husband had argued the day he died and that her husband was “drunk” and angry when he headed into Manhattan.
Afterward, authorities found a bottle of vodka on Han, a former Laundromat worker who was unemployed at the time of his death.
Witnesses said that, as the victim and his killer argued, straphangers inched away.
Then, just as a loudspeaker announced the incoming train, Han was “launched” onto the tracks, a witness said.
The suspect last night told police he saw flashes as the scene unfolded, and people on the platform screamed at Han and tried to get the train operator’s attention. “He said people were yelling at [Han] to lie down in the tracks to avoid the train,” a source said.
The flashes were a warning to the motorman from Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, who was waiting on the platform when he saw Han go “flying.”
Abbasi was hoping that the motorman would see the flashes and stop.
Davis most recently lived in Queens, according to public records, but neighbors said he moved about six months ago.
Records show he has five sealed arrests since 2010 and a March arrest for selling T-shirts on the street.
He has two open arrests, one in October for sleeping on a park bench and one in September for smoking pot in public.
Davis was due in court today on the park-bench charge, records show.
In Pennsylvania, he has been busted for burglary, receiving stolen property and theft from a vehicle, records show.
While cops hunted for him Monday night, the suspect stashed the clothes he was wearing and spent the night in a van, according to a source.
Davis also shaved off his dreadlocks in an apparent bid to change his appearance.
“He always wears a hat, but today he had no hat on. I saw his head for the first time. His hair was short, almost shaved,” said a worker at a video store on 50th Street who saw detectives take Davis into custody.
“He would walk down the street talking to himself. He was always alone.”
The suspect is well-known to vendors.
“He’s homeless,” said hot-dog seller Esran Shanbi. “He sleeps in a chair or milk crate or on cardboard on 49th Street. I’ve seen him around for years. He looks shifty; he looks sick. But I’ve never seen him in a fight.
“Sometimes, he wants a free hot dog or soda, so I give it to him. He makes about $20 to $40 a day.”
Davis helps vendors wheel their tables to a garage on 48th Street, getting $5 to $10 per job. “I saw his picture today and I said, ‘This guy? I know this guy.’ To me, he was always very nice,” said vendor Mama Sarr, 38.
“He always seemed straight. I never saw him fight or act dangerous.”
Additional reporting by Kirstan Conley and Laurel Babcock
larry.celona@nypost.com
Fiend watched his victim die: Homeless man arrested in Times Square subway murder
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Fiend watched his victim die: Homeless man arrested in Times Square subway murder
