NYPD arrested multiple vaccine mandate protesters in Times Square Olive Garden but failed to stop convicted felon shoving woman, 40, to her death just yards away in subway station

As he was lead away from the Times Square Olive Garden Friday night, one protester compared their sit-in with the Civil Rights movement, likening the vaccine mandate to segregation 

A group of about half a dozen protesters chanted 'USA, USA' inside the Olive Garden in Times Square as they staged a sit-in to protest the city's vaccine mandate on Friday nigh

Just about 11 hours later, the NYPD was not able to stop a homeless man from shoving an Asian woman to her death in front of an oncoming subway train in Times Square. 

Simon Martial, 61, is charged with second-degree murder after the Saturday morning incident at around 9:40 a.m. in Manhattan when a woman was killed at the southbound N, Q, R and W platform at West 42nd Street and Broadway.

Police have identified the woman as Michelle Alyssa Go, 40, who lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. 

Martial has a history of mental illness and told reporters to 'go f*** yourself' as he was walked out of a Midtown precinct on Saturday night, declaring himself 'God.'

'Yeah because I'm God,' he said when asked if he killed Go, the New York Post reported. 'Yes I did. I'm God, I can do it.'

He then claimed: 'She stole my f***ing jacket, that's why.' 

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the attack was 'unprovoked' and the victim 'does not appear to have any interaction with the subject.'

The victim was remembered fondly on Saturday night as a 'good soul.'

'Everybody at Ruxton Towers liked her,' an anonymous acquaintance who asked not to be named told DailyMail.com on the Upper West Side. 'She was a good soul - a nice person. She didn’t deserve this.'

Go, of the Upper West Side, worked as a senior manager of strategy and operations for management and acquisitions at Deloitte Consulting, according to her LinkedIn. She graduated from University of California Los Angeles with a bachelor's in economics and public policy, and earned her Master of Business Administration from New York University. 

Martial reportedly shoved Go onto the tracks as a southbound R train approached the station in a seemingly random attack. He purportedly had approached a different woman, who was not Asian, but she moved away, police said. 

Martial has a previous criminal history and served two years in state prison for attempted robbery before being released in August 2021, the New York Post reported, citing state records.

Sources told DailyMail.com that he has been arrested at least twice in the past for robbery. One incident was in August 2017 in Manhattan, when he was charged with first-degree robbery after allegedly entering a car, pretending to have a gun and stealing $43.   

He was also arrested in July 1998 for allegedly simulating a gun in an attempt to rob a taxi driver, threatening to kill the driver. He was charged with two counts of robbery and criminal possession of a weapon at the time.

Sources told the Post that he has had three encounters with police as an emotionally disturbed person. 

Martial's sister, Josette Simon, was shocked and told the New York Post that her brother has a history of mental illness, but had once managed a parking lot and made 'good money.'

'He’s been on medication for over 20 years and in and out of mental hospitals in New York,' she told the Post. 

Simon Martial, 61, was arrested after he allegedly shoved Michelle Alyssa Go, 40, right, onto the subway tracks and killed her 

Simon Martial, 61, is charged with second-degree murder after the Saturday morning incident. He is seen Saturday night leaving the Midtown precinct

Martial is accused of killing a woman, identified as Michelle Alyssa Go, at the southbound N, Q, R and W platform at West 42nd Street and Broadway