The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating an antisemitic assault on a subway train in Jamaica Hills during the morning rush on Monday, Jan. 13.
The 27-year-old victim in the attack was onboard a northbound F train that was approaching the Parsons Boulevard subway station at 7 a.m. when a stranger began shouting antisemitic rhetoric at him before he slapped him and then punched him in the face.
The assailant proceeded to grab the victim’s mezuzah necklace from his neck and smashed it on the floor of the subway car, destroying it, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. Mezuzah jewelry is also said to offer protection to those who wear it, but it is often seen attached to the front doorway of Jewish homes.
Following the attack, the perpetrator ran off the train at the Parsons Boulevard station and fled the scene onto Hillside Avenue.
Police from the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows and Transit District 20 responded to the location where the victim refused medical attention, police said. The suspect remains at large nearly a month after the assault.
The NYPD released a series of five surveillance images of the culprit on Thursday, showing him inside the subway car, on the platform at the Parsons Boulevard station, and passing through the turnstile. He has a dark beard and mustache and wore a New York Yankees baseball cap under a dark hooded sweatshirt, a burnt-orange overcoat, black pants, and dark sneakers.
Anyone with information regarding this hate crime assault investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
Through Feb. 2, the 107th Precinct has reported two hate crimes so far in 2025 after having none at the same point last year, according to the most recent CompStat report. The precinct reported 18 felony assaults so far this year, 11 fewer than the 29 reported at the same point in 2024, a decline of 37.9%, according to CompStat. The 107th Precinct reported two transit crimes so far in 2025, two fewer than the four reported at the same point last year, an increase of 50%, according to CompStat.
