New York City police have arrested and charged a Manhattan man for allegedly punching three people in an apparent anti-gay attack on the subway over a month ago. Jonathan Santos, 33, faces three charges of assault as hate crimes and two counts of aggravated harassment as hate crimes for attacking two 19-year-old men on a Queens-bound E train around 3:30 a.m. on July 31. All three victims later exited the train at the Queens Plaza subway station, while Santos remained on the train. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force investigated the attack and arrested Santos in the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill last Tuesday. According to NYPD statistics, there were 376 recorded hate crimes in the city from the start of the year to Sept. 5 — marking a 99% increase from the 189 recorded hate crimes that occurred during the same time period last year.

Source: MetroXpress September 13, 2021 12:22 UTC