Suspect In Fatal Subway Stabbing Was 'Trying To Defend Herself,' According To Lawyer
July 11, 2019, 2 p.m.
A 20-year-old woman was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police have charged a 20-year-old woman with manslaughter in the violent confrontation at a Brooklyn subway station that left another woman dead. However, the suspect's lawyer said, "My client is simply trying to defend herself."
Latanya Watson, 30, was found with stab wounds to the face, neck, and arm at the Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road 3 station in Brownsville on Monday night. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police reportedly followed a trail of blood to the home of Mia Simmons's grandmother. In addition to manslaughter, Simmons was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Apparently Watson and Simmons had gotten into an argument on a train that spilled into the station.
Simmons' lawyer, Guy Oksenhendler, explained to the Daily News that "his client, a home health aide, was actually fighting for her life — and only got the upper hand after she wrestled the knife away from the victim," saying, "There is a video that makes clear that the decedent is the initial aggressor and attacked my client."
Footage from the subway station shows the pair fighting. Police say Watson used pepper spray and the footage shows Watson grabbing Simmons by the hair and Simmons eventually taking out a knife and swinging it around.
Watson, who worked at the Red Hook Fairway, had a 12-year-old and was engaged. Her fiancé Jerelle Martin told WCBS 2, "I waited for her a couple of hours. She didn’t show. I texted her, ‘Are you OK?’ No answer... I waited, [then] detectives knocked on the door."
