Spit and slurs hit Brooklyn subway rider
A HATE-FILLED straphanger spewing anti-gay slurs punched and spat on a stranger on a subway train in Brooklyn, officials said Saturday.
“You’re a f-----g f----t and are probably f-----g the guy right next to you,” the assailant seethed, before repeatedly punching the 29-year-old victim in the face on a Manhattan-bound C train about 9 a.m. Thursday, police said. The unprovoked attack erupted as the train was headed toward the Lafayette Ave. station in Fort Greene.
“N-----s like me take care of f----s like you,” the unhinged assailant said before spitting in the victim’s face and punching him two more times, according to cops.
The attacker dashed from the train at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station and ran off.
The victim stayed on the train until he reached the 59th St. station in Midtown, where he reported the incident to police. He was not seriously hurt and refused medical attention. The Daily News is withholding the victim’s name because the suspect was still being sought late Saturday.
The victim’s roommate said the battered man left the city to be with family shortly after the attack.
Cops are investigating the assault as a possible hate crime.
The suspect is described as a black man, about 25 years old with long black hair. He was wearing red sweatpants and purple headphones at the time of the attack, officials said.
The attack comes as the NYPD tries to get a handle on a spike in anti-gay bias crimes, as well as hate crimes in general.
Police investigated 17 hate crimes based on sexual orientation through March 26 — two more than the same time period a year before.
Overall hate crimes have doubled over the last year, with 131 being logged as of March 26. At the same time last year, only 65 hate crimes had been investigated, officials said.
The rise in hate crimes has been fueled by anti-Semitic crimes, which has nearly tripled in the last year from 28 to 67, officials said.
Anyone with information regarding Thursday‘s incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.