Jonathan Santos, pictured, was arrested Tuesday for an anti-gay attack on a subway train in Long Island City in July (Photo: NYPD)
Sept. 7, 2021 By Michael Dorgan
A man who allegedly punched two 19-year-old men in an apparent anti-gay attack on a subway train in Long Island City in July has been collared by police.
Jonathan Santos, 33, was arrested Tuesday for the attack – in which he also allegedly struck a woman who tried to stop the beat down.
Santos, who is from Manhattan, has been charged with three counts of assault as hate crimes and two counts of aggravated harassment as hate crimes, police said.
The alleged homophobe approached the two young men on a Jamaica-bound E train on July 31 and hurled anti-gay slurs at them – including “c**k-suckers” and “f***ots” – before punching one of the victims multiple times as the train approached the Court Square station, according to police.
Santos then clobbered the other 19-year-old in the face when the train stopped at the Court Square station at around 3:30 a.m., police said.
The woman, 32, then attempted to intervene but she was sucker-punched by Santos as the train took off, cops said.
All of the victims fled the train when it stopped at the Queens Plaza subway station – the next stop on the route – while Santos remained on the train.
All three victims suffered pain and swelling to the face, with the Good Samaritan also suffering a fractured tooth.
