A Manhattan man has admitted to committing a hate crime by shoving and hurling homophobic slurs at a woman as she rode a Manhattan-bound E train last year, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
East Harlem resident Allasheed Allah, 54, appeared before Queens Criminal Court Judge Mary Bejarano on Oct. 2 and pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree assault as a hate crime.
According to the charges, just after 5 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2018, at the 71st Avenue subway station in Forest Hills, Allah began to argue with a 20-year-old woman on the train. The victim was with a female friend, who kissed her on the cheek.
Allah seeing this, yelled out “kiss her again you d–e [expletive]” and followed the pair as they exited the train, according to the charges. The defendant walked behind the victim and struck her once in the head and chest, shoving her into a nearby pole. The contact caused the woman to hit both the pole and the floor resulting in multiple injuries to her head and neck, according to court records.
When questioned by police, the Allah admitted to pushing the victim because she was “disrespecting me with all that gay [expletive],” according to the charges.
“In pleading guilty, the defendant has admitted to attacking a woman solely based on his belief that she was gay. That kind of hate-inspired assault is intolerable and we won’t stand for it here in Queens County — the most diverse county in the country,” Acting Queens District Attorney John M. Ryan said. “The defendant will go to prison as a result of his vicious attack. The victim, I am happy to say, has recovered and hopefully will be able to put this horrible incident behind her forever.”
Judge Bejarano indicated she will sentence Allah to one to three years in prison on Nov. 7.
