Man Thrown Onto New York City Subway Tracks After Being Hit With Hammer In Reported Homophobic Attack

A man in the Bronx area in New York City was reportedly assaulted with a hammer and pushed onto the New York subway tracks in what’s being described as an anti-gay attack, The New York Daily News reported today.

Police sources cited by The New York Daily News, said that a 21-year-old man was waiting for the D subway train in the Treatment Avenue Station in the Mount Hope area of the Bronx neighborhood at about 1:10 a.m. Friday when a stranger attacked him.

The alleged attacker reportedly screamed at the victim, using expletives and calling him a “f*cking f*ggot” before assaulting him — hitting him with a hammer and shoving him onto the subway tracks.

According to The New York Daily News, the 21-year-old was able to climb back onto the subway platform. He was eventually tended to by paramedics who took him to St. Barnabas Hospital with minor injuries that included a deep cut on his left eyebrow, according to police.

Police said that they were searching for the attacker and were looking into whether the alleged incident was a hate crime.

According to a report today by Out Magazine, the alleged assault is the second instance of a homophobic attack in New York in recent weeks. Two men were assaulted by several men in the Astoria, Queens, neighborhood of New York at a restaurant in September. The alleged aggressors reportedly hurled homophobic slurs at the victims in an area reportedly frequented by the LGBTQ+ community, Out said.

In that instance, the restaurant was criticized for neglecting to help the individuals who faced the homophobic attacks, telling them instead to finish their meals and to leave the restaurant, though the restaurant denied these allegations, according to Out.

As The Inquisitr previously reported, there were other reported anti-gay crimes in the city before and after pride month earlier this year. A pride flag was lit ablaze on two separate occasions at the same bar in Harlem. At the Alibi Lounge in Harlem, a gay-pride flag was burned in both May and July.

The lounge owners said they were also forced to take the flag down briefly in July after firecrackers had been set off outside the establishment.

According to Out, hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community are on the rise according to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigations. The U.S. Census Bureau reportedly found that hate crimes are underreported, leading some to believe the problem is more significant than once thought, the LGBTQ+ news outlet said.