A 29-year-old homeless man has been accused of yelling anti-Muslim insults and spitting on a 19-year-old woman, then breaking her jaw in what police say was a hate-crime attack.
Zin McDade is facing multiple charges, including felony hate crime assault, after the attack on July 11, the NYPD says.
Law enforcement sources say the woman and her brother had just gotten off a bus from Maryland and were speaking in Urdu to one another when the suspect approached and asked if they were speaking to him.
The suspect allegedly called the woman a "jihad... terrorist" and the woman responded in kind by referencing the man's race, the sources say.
That's when the suspect allegedly punched the woman in the face, breaking her jaw.
That's when police say the suspect walked up to the woman on East Broadway and started arguing with her; he made anti-Muslim statements, then started to spit on her and punch her in the face.
The man eventually started walking off on Eldridge Street, all the while glaring back in the direction where he had attacked the woman, police said.
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The woman was taken to the hospital after the attack.
McDade was identified as the suspect in the attack after a drug arrest in July, the sources say. The victim later picked his photo out from a photo array.
It's not clear if McDade has an attorney.
