A man is wanted by police in Manhattan for allegedly walking up to another man, spitting on him, voicing anti-LGBTQ slurs, and taking off, in a random attack earlier this month.
It was approximately 7 p.m. on October 1 when the alleged homophobe approached the 57-year-old victim at 500 West 42nd Street near 10th Avenue and hawked a mouthful of saliva at him, according to police.
The alleged assailant then ran off, though cameras spotted him on West 42nd Street between 11th and 12th Avenues following the attack.
The victim was checked out by emergency medical responders, but opted against receiving any medical attention, according to police.
Ambush continues string of homophobic attacks across New York City
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident and police are describing it as an aggravated harassment hate crime.
Police did not identify a suspect but photos and a video provided by the NYPD show the man wearing wearing a dark sweat shirt hoodie, gray pants, and red shoes.
The ambush continued a string of recent anti-LGBTQ attacks in the city and came just days after a man allegedly hurled anti-LGBTQ slurs at another man in Lower Manhattan, punching him and leaving the victim with a bloody nose and a lacerated lip.
In another recent case, a 51-year-old Queens man allegedly called a 20-year-old man a “faggot” while the pair were sitting on a bench Far Rockaway, Queens, on September 7. Moments later, the alleged attacker stabbed him to death.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz charged the man with a pair of counts of second-degree murder — one as a hate crime — in addition to criminal possession of a weapon in the third and fourth degrees and tampering with evidence.
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