Bus rider’s face smashed in during ‘hate attack’
An attacker pummeled a bus passenger so hard he smashed the bones in his face after calling the victim a “cracker” in Manhattan – marking the second time in two days that people appeared to be randomly targeted in racial tirades against white people, authorities said.
In the latest incident, the suspect passed a 31-year-old rider on the M60 bus riding through Harlem, on West 127th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive, around 2:45 p.m., Friday, when he shouted the racial slur and punched the victim in the face, breaking his nose and eye socket, cops said.
Modal Trigger The alleged M60 bus attacker
The victim was treated for facial fractures at New York Presbyterian Hospital and released, police said.
The incident occurred as authorities reported that Jeffrey Babbitt, 62, fell into a coma after being punched and knocked to the ground in Union Square Park on Wednesday. He was taken off life support and died Monday, sources said.
In that case, a 31-year-old allegedly yelled that he was going to “f— up” the next white person he saw, before clocking Babbitt so hard that witnesses reported hearing his skull crack on the pavement.
Two people who tried to help the victim were also punched but refused medical attention at the scene, law enforcement sources said.
The assailant waited for police to arrest him and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the assault was being investigated as a hate crime.
The suspect in the Harlem attack is 5-foot-11, 185 pounds and is believed to be in his late 30s. |
