Subway Assailant Charged with Hate Crimes for Anti-Trans Attack
Ian Williams is accused of groping the 22-year-old victim and then beating her while yelling anti-gay slurs at her.
A man who groped and then beat a transgender woman who was riding the subway so severely that he broke her nose faces multiple hate crime charges in addition to charges of forcible touching, menacing, and assault.
Ian Williams, 22, was arrested and charged with third-degree assault, third-degree menacing, third-degree sexual assault, and forcible touching for allegedly attacking the woman aboard a Manhattan-bound J-train last month.
He also faces charges of menacing as a hate crime, assault as a hate crime, and aggravated harassment, a bias-related charge.
According to prosecutors, the 22-year-old victim was waiting on the subway platform at the Broadway-Myrtle Avenue stop in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood around 1:15 p.m. on August 17 when Williams approached her, made a “sexually suggestive gesture” with his fingers, and groped her backside.
According to the criminal complaint, after the two boarded the train, the woman asked him why he’d groped her, to which Williams allegedly responded, “Why would I grope you? I am not a f****t and you’re a f****t. You fucking f****t, I am going to fucking kill you! I am going to throw you on the tracks!”
Williams then allegedly slapped the victim and punched her repeatedly, throwing her to the floor before other riders intervened and pulled him away. Williams then exited the train at the Delancey Street-Essex Street subway station on the Lower East Side.
The woman later transported herself to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for multiple injuries, including a broken nose.
Police released photos of the alleged attacker to the media and arrested Williams three days later.
With the hate crime charges, Williams could face up to four years in prison for the assault. He was arraigned last week on all charges in Brooklyn Supreme Court and is currently being held on $10,000 cash bail or a $50,000 bond. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 1.
“Every person in our city deserves to safely use the subway, no matter their gender identity or expression,” District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement, according to the New York Daily News.
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