A 29-year-old man was riding a northbound A train in Manhattan one weekend last month when an unidentified individual approached him and punched him in a homophobic attack that sent him to the hospital.
It was around 4:45 p.m. on Aug. 17 when the alleged assailant voiced anti-LGBTQ remarks at the victim and pummeled him in the face as the train arrived the 59th Street-Columbus Circle station.
The attacker immediately fled the scene, while the victim went to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center due to pain in the face and back.
Police are looking to identify the alleged attacker, who was last spotted wearing a purple bucket hat, a black tank top, black pants, and purple, black, and white sneakers.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the case, according to police. It is not clear what prompted the incident.
The attack occurred one month to the day after a similar incident at the Rockaway Parkway-Canarsie station in Brooklyn on July 17 when a 31-year-old man was approached by an unidentified suspect who allegedly voiced anti-LGBTQ remarks and then hit the victim, according to police.
There have also been multiple anti-LGBTQ incidents on the A train line this year. In May, a suspect grabbed a 35-year-old victim by the neck, punched him in the chest, and voiced anti-LGBTQ slurs as an A train approached the 12th Street station, according to AMNY. Meanwhile, a man allegedly hurled homophobic slurs at a gay man who was riding an A train with his husband.
