On Saturday, May 20th, around 7:30 PM, a lesbian couple attempted, like so many do, to take the Q train to Brooklyn. They sat in seats, as you do, and then 27-year-old Antoine Thomas boarded the train and had some feelings about these women and their seats. He yelled anti-gay epithets at them including “Faggot” and “Dyke.” The women pleaded with him to calm down, which inspired him to attack them, beating one of the women, who was 24, into unconsciousness.
She was taken to the Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where she was treated for a concussion, a broken eye socket, and several cuts that required stitches.
Thomas was arrested by a transit cop, and could face charges including assault, menacing, and harassment — as well as hate crime charges, as the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is reportedly also on the case.
He was released without bail from the Brooklyn Criminal Court on Sunday, May 21st.
As of today, this is all the information we have on this attack.
This comes shortly after a different bigotry-fueled attack on a train in Portland, during which three men intervened when a white supremacist was going after two teenage girls; one Black and one a Muslim girl wearing a hijab. Two of the men were killed, and the third was hospitalized.
The Anti-Violence Project has reported on the Brooklyn incident and is encouraging people to take the Bystander Intervention Pledge.
Sources: NewNowNext, Metro Weekly
