Woman, 84, dies after being pushed off Little Tokyo Metro platform, officials say [Updated]

Authorities are saying that a push sent an 84-year-old woman to her death after she fell onto the tracks at the Metro station in Little Tokyo.

[Corrected at 1:33 p.m.: Coroner's officials initially reported that the woman was 86. She was 84.]

Betty Sugiyama was standing on the platform at the Gold Line station on Sunday morning when another woman pushed her off, police said. Detectives said witnesses reported that Sugiyama did not provoke the attack.

Jackkqueline Pogue, 44, was arrested on the platform soon after, and is expected to be charged with murder, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

A motive was unclear Monday afternoon, as homicide detectives continued their investigation.

After the incident, Sugiyama was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died Sunday night. Assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said it appeared she was not struck by a train.

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-- Robert Faturechi

Photo: DMV via KTLA News

Comments

[Francis]

I imagine that a commentor with the name "Stevor" comes from a part of town where smug superiority and thinnly-veiled racism are more prevelent and that congenital stupidity might be part of the problem.
Thankfully, the Calif folks are SMART ENOUGH not to heed attention to such hateful comments.

[Jen]

Reading the comments and banter from a few individuals is so much more entertaining than anything on TV. These posts really got me laughing. Too bad, it took such a sad incident to get everyone (even the idi-oats) talking.

[lol]

I remember several incidents in which schizos pushed people who where standing too close to the edge in front of oncoming train. Also, people tend to commit suicide since there are no barriers and the trains are rushing towards you at ridiculously fast speeds.

[John]

This damned city should round up all vagrants.

[scott]

lets do away with rails and go with cables and gondolas, similar to what medellin has. no gas, no xtra traffic, very cheap to build.
heres a link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMV0_kN2n_U

[jmuhj]

Heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of Ms. Sugiyama.
May the perpetrator of this horrific and senseless crime receive the harshest sentence possible.

[michael]

What could she have done to provoke this...nothing. She was pushed by a lunatic who shouldn't be walking the streets.

[Brigham Yen]

Another reason why I stand WAY BACK from the train tracks on the platform!

I thought I was being paranoid, but it's cases like this that make me cynical. Obviously 99.9% of people are not going to push anyone intentionally onto the tracks, but it's those KRAZY 0.1% of folks who are just evil enough to do that.

There's a reason they have a yellow line folks! Stand back from the line!

[Denise Bernhardt]

Ok- I don't get it. Why would somebody do something like that? Wow!

[hcp]

When my secretary told me she was moving to New York 12 years ago, I warned her to be careful on the subway for mental homeless people who sometimes push people off the platform for their own sicko reasons. Looks like the same advice should be given to all using the the LA metro trains. Caution!

[Jack]

@Stevor And, yet this happened while pot was still illegal. Kind of a backward argument, isn't it? I am surprised you didn't try to tie this to gay marriage.

[TR]

I just love posters like Mr. Sills who go off on some nutty tangent after a story like this.

Yep, it sure is good that there are no thieves, murderers, arsonists, drug addicts, rapists, etc...in any state in the union besides California. And, yes, it happens just here because we are communists.

RIP Ms. Sugiyama.

[Bill D.]

stevor wrote:
"I imagine that a woman with the name, 'Jackkqueline' comes from a part of town where drugs are more prevalent and drugs might have been part of the problem.
Thankfully, the Calif folks were SMART ENOUGH to not make Marijuana legal."
-------------------

Unfortunately you seem to have come from the part of town where straw man arguments are more prevalent, and are definitely part the problem.

You seem to be one of those people who attempts contort unrelated stories around a pet issue and construct unwanted, non-sequitor "arguments" that are simply logical fallacies so you can sit back with a sense of smug self-satisfaction that you really showed all of us.

No one cares.

If you want to debate marijuana legalization, please do it elsewhere. Like in the comments section of a story about marijuana legalization. Don't hop on a minute detail of a story and try to forge ahead into territory this article does not touch upon.

An elderly woman was brutally murdered. That's what you should be focused on here. Don't waste our time and be so disrespectful of the events and the site.

[Jeff714]

I'd bet anything that Jackkqueline Pogue is mentally ill and that she has been prescribed anti-psychotic meds and that she is not taking her prescribed meds. It's fun to blame the mentally ill for the crazy things they do and think they are evil or motivated by some pleasure they get out of causing pain to others. The reality almost always in these cases is that the Jackkqueline Pogues of our society either need to be treated in a mental hospital (against their will) or they need to be forced to take their meds every single day by a court order. They have no idea what they are doing. They will never respond to the notion of right and wrong and crime and punishment. Their brains, untreated, don't function normally.

Many of the people who favor closing down the mental hospitals think nothing of waiting until the people with schizophrenia or bipolar paranoia commit a terrible crime and say, "Lock em up in prison." Our society was much better off when we treated the illness first.

[Mims]

Just reading the title was enough for me. It saddens me to think of what our world has come to. I grew up around that part of LA my whole life until I recently moved out for college. My parents always taught me to be careful around different parts of the cities because... mainly for this reason...random crazy strangers. I feel terrible for the Sugiyama family and my condolences go out to them. I can only imagine coming home and hearing the terrible news of my mom/grandmother being pushed onto the tracks and dying. She was just an old lady....

[richard Agnew]

yeah it was weed that made her do it. Stevor, a weed addict as I am would not be doing that. I would guess many other drug-related and or drug-enhanced delusions befoe saying someting irrelevant.

[wee9784]

This poor woman was probably standing close to the platform because the last thing she was thinking about was getting pushed off. This woman mabey was standing by the platform to ensure a seat that would give her easy access to leave. What could that other woman have been thinking at the time? May this poor woman rest in peace.

[Devel]

please stop smoking crack STEVOR

[lapsrus]

That lady is Skkqrewed up.

[raul782]

I work in Little Tokyo and I acutally knew Betty. She was a very very nice lady. I'm shocked!!!

[Mind Body Spirit]

Ms. Sugiyama is in a better place now. I pray strength for her family and bless her soul. We all need to stick together and protect our own. An innocent bystander is our own!

[Mike White]

Very sad that an old woman has to go out like this. At least they caught the pusher.

[RIP]

This is why I don't let my mom go out by herself... I always tell her to let me know if she needs to go somewhere so that I can take her.

May this woman rest in peace.

[Fight already]

stevor, get over it. MJ is no different than alcohol, sugar, prescription meds, sleeping pills, etc. You are ignorant and it shows. Way to judge a tragic scene when you have zero facts or knowledge and then blame weed. Idiot.

[Robert Leichter]

"I imagine that a woman with the name, "Jackkqueline" comes from a part of town where drugs are more prevalent and drugs might have been part of the problem. Thankfully, the Calif folks were SMART ENOUGH to not make Marijuana legal

What you "imagine" and what "might have been" amount to pure speculation on your part. You can't know what happened. You aren't SMART ENOUGH.

What part of town are you talking about anyway?
West Hollywood, where Lindsay Lohan lives?
The Hollywood Hills where Paris Hilton lives?
That's where the drugs are most prevalent.
You are the problem, not the solution.
Racist, paranoia didn't get you much else in the election did it?