Metro Transit police are looking for a suspect who they said hit a passenger in the head with a rock at a station in the Northeast section of the District of Columbia over the weekend.

Authorities said the male suspect was menacing a rider at the Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood Station at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday when another passenger tried to record the perpetrator.

That’s when police said the suspect demanded the phone-wielding rider hand over his car keys. The rider refused, and the suspect struck him in the head with the rock, according to police.

Authorities said the suspect also assaulted a cyclist near a footbridge while yelling, “Shoot me! What are you going to do? Shoot me!” and “This is why I hate you white people.”

Metro police said the male suspect is wanted on attempted armed robbery charges. Local NBC affiliate WRC-TV reported the suspect is facing hate and bias charges as well.

The victim who was hit with the rock sent a letter to Metro General Manager Randy Clarke and shared it with popular local blog PoPville.

“I’m troubled and disheartened by the lack of timely response by Metro Transit Police and the genuine safety threat we faced at the Rhode Island Metro Station,” the victim wrote. “I have been a passionate defender of Metro but this situation leaves me feeling unsafe and exposed to dangerous threats.”

The victim said it took 25 minutes for transit police to arrive on the scene.

Mr. Clarke countered, “The good thing is we had a special police officer there within a minute — I think one or two minutes. We look at the special police officers as part of our overall security staff.”

Mr. Clarke told WRC that more armed police officers are patrolling the station.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.