By Chris Engelhardt
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is searching for two suspects seen in a video of an alleged anti-gay harassment incident that unfolded on a train in Jackson Heights last week, police said.
A video posted on YouTube shows two men screaming at a group of LGBT youths heading home on a Queens-bound F Train on June 30 around 11:45 p.m. after New York City’s Gay Pride march, according to the NYPD.
In the video titled “LGBT Hate Crime New York Subway” posted two days later to a YouTube account named “Stopp Hating,” the woman who took the video — who did not give her name — wrote in its description that the argument started when the two men were loudly making homophobic comments, including “Today was a scary day for me. There were f–s everywhere.”
One of the men later gets into a heated dispute with a woman who identifies herself as queer, while the second man places his hand on the neck of the young woman, the video shows. The man in the verbal argument later shouts: “I’ll f—ing kill you!”
The New York City Anti-Violence Project, which empowers LGBT, queer and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing, education and advocacy, released a statement on the incident, calling it “deeply disturbing” to watch.
The videographer wrote that she suffered bruises and scratches during the incident. In the video, one of the men seems to grab at her to take away her phone.
The woman wrote in the description that the men fled the train at Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, and she called 911 while following them to the station exit.
The video has logged more than one million views.
A DCPI spokesman said the Hate Crimes Task Force is conducting an investigation. He declined comment when asked if anyone had been questioned in connection with the incident.
Reach reporter Chris Engelhardt by e-mail at cengelhardt@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
