An alleged bigot accused of punching a Jewish woman in the face at a Manhattan subway station was arrested Tuesday and charged with a hate crime, the NYPD said.
Christopher D’Aguiar, 28, allegedly attacked the 29-year-old woman inside the 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue station on Oct. 14 and told her he slugged her because “you are Jewish,” according to police.
The victim suffered minor injuries, cops said.
D’Aguiar was charged with hate crime assault, aggravated harassment, assault and harassment, according to police.
The hate-fueled attack was launched amid a major spike in hate crimes, some violent, across the Big Apple — with nearly 60% of the incidents targeting the Jewish community— as the Israel-Hamas war rages on following the terrorist group’s surprise attack on the Jewish nation.
At least 51 hate crimes have been reported in the city since Oct. 9 — 30 of which were against Jewish victims, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.
NYPD only reported six anti-Jewish incidents during the same period in 2022, he said.
Kenny said that the recent incidents do not appear to stem from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine demonstrations across the city.
“Some of the attacks occurred when random people just happen to cross paths on the subway. Or on a bus. We don’t see anything that’s really planned,” he said. “Protests obviously are planned events. We haven’t seen any sort of hate crime attached to a protest.”