The Brooklyn district attorney announced that forty-one-year-old Yeshayahu Carraway has been indicted for a hate crime that happened on January eighteenth. Carraway is accused of making anti-gay statements at a twenty-four-year-old man on the L train in Brooklyn.
After making the statements on the train, Carraway allegedly followed the victim off the train at the Lorimer Street station in Williamsburg. At the station, he reportedly held the victim at gunpoint.
Carraway then punched the victim repeatedly at the station, according to the indictment. The attack combined verbal harassment with physical violence and the threat of a firearm.
Despite the severity of the charges, Carraway was later released without bail after his arrest. He is expected back in court in August to face the hate crime charges.
The incident occurred on the L train line which runs through Williamsburg, a densely populated neighbourhood in Brooklyn. The Lorimer Street station where the physical assault took place is a major transit hub in the area.
The Brooklyn district attorney's office pursued hate crime charges due to the anti-gay nature of the verbal statements that preceded the physical attack. The indictment was announced as part of the ongoing prosecution of bias-motivated crimes in the borough.
Carraway was released without bail following his arrest and is scheduled to return to court in August. The hate crime indictment carries additional penalties beyond standard assault charges due to the bias motivation behind the attack.