The NYPD released surveillance footage Tuesday of a suspect wanted for chasing a man with a knife -- causing that man to stumble into a 72-year-old Harlem nurse practitioner, knocking her to the ground and leading to her death.
Victim Martha Rodriguez, who worked for 28 years as a nurse practitioner at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, was heading home from the movies when a man ran into her and knocked her to the ground outside her Lenox Ave. home near W. 134th St. on Aug. 3., police said.
Medics rushed Rodriguez to Harlem Hospital with a traumatic brain injury, where she died three days later, leading the Office of Chief Medical Examiner to declare her death a homicide.
On Tuesday police released surveillance images of the knife-wielding man they say set the tragic chain of events into motion by chasing after the man who knocked Rodriguez down in his attempt to get away. If found the man will be charged with criminally negligent homicide for his role in Rodriguez's death, cops said.
It is unclear if the man who bowled over Rodriguez could also be facing charges, cops said. That man may have gotten in an argument with a group of people when a member of the group pulled out a knife and chased after him when he fled, according to police.
A friend of Rodriguez's, 63-year-old Tom Young, told the Daily News he was briefed by a detective who said video showed the man looked over his shoulder at the men chasing him and was unable to avoid running into Rodriguez once he turned back around.
Young condemned both the man who knocked Rodriguez down and his pursuers for fleeing the scene instead of helping her.
"It's sad the way humanity is right now," Young told The News at the time. "But then again you have people like Martha, who remind us the battle on Earth is to try to fight that -- take away the negativity, take away the inhumanity, where we can."
In her last heroic act, Rodriguez donated her organs, helping three men between the ages of 64 and 76 who are now recovering, according to Leonard Achan, president of LiveOnNY, a non-profit that coordinates organ donations.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.