New York Police have opened a hate crime investigation into an attack on a 21-year-old man early Friday morning. An assailant hit the man with a hammer, yelled homophobic slurs and threw him onto the subway tracks in the path of an oncoming train.
According to CBS News, the victim reports he was waiting for a train in a Mount Hope subway station when the attacker approached him, striking him in the armpit with a hammer. The attacker then pushed the man onto the subway tracks, yelling an anti-gay slur.
Related: Boston police open investigation into possible hate crime outside popular gay bar
Luckily, the victim managed to crawl off the tracks and onto the platform before the approaching train arrived, though the attacker managed to escape. Doctors treated the victim for a gash on the eyebrow at St. Barnabas Hospital.
The incident reflects an uptick in subway violence in recent days, with three other unrelated attacks occurring in the last week and a half.
In September it was announced 500 additional transit police officers would be hired.
James Hart
Disgusting. And I’m a native New Yorker.