Suspect (NYPD)
May 24, 2021 By Allie Griffin
A 35-year-old Asian man was pushed onto the subway tracks by a stranger at a Long Island City station Monday morning in what police are investigating as a possible hate crime.
The victim was standing on the train platform at the 21st Street-Queensbridge F station when a man approached him, said something unintelligible and shoved him onto the southbound train tracks at 7:43 a.m., police said.
Witnesses helped the 35-year-old off the tracks while the man who pushed him fled the station in an unknown direction, police said.
The victim suffered a laceration to his forehead from the fall. EMS drove him to Mt. Sinai-Queens in stable condition.
Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer weighed in on the incident this afternoon.
“This is an absolutely horrific hate crime,” Van Bramer said. “The level of violence directed toward our AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community is frightening and has to end. We have to defend our AAPI neighbors and friends. Throwing someone in front of the subway train is the ultimate act of violence. It is disgusting and disgraceful.”
The NYPD is still investigation as to whether the incident was a hate crime, according to NYPD sources. If so, it would be the latest in a drastic uptick in hate crimes against the Asian American community in New York City over the past year.
The NYPD described the suspect as a dark-skinned male, 20 to 30 years old and approximately 6 feet tall. He was also seen wearing a black face mask, black hooded sweatshirt, blank pants and black shoes.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
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