A Queens man quickly found himself in handcuffs after launching into an anti-Asian tirade at a Long Island City subway station.
Police said a 32-year-old man threatened and harassed an undercover NYPD officer on the Queens-bound platform of the 39th Street-Dutch Kills subway stop in Long Island City.
Ricardo Hernandez allegedly engaged the officer Saturday evening in unspecified violent behavior saying, among other things, that he had nothing to lose and that "this is my house."
The man quickly found himself under arrest, facing charges of aggravated harassment as a hate crime.
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Police said Hernandez has a prior record of arrests for farebeating and criminal possession of a controlled substance, going back to 2016. It was not immediately clear if he had legal representation.
The Queens incident follows last weeks arrest at Penn Station where police said a man went on a hate-filled rant and threatened to stab an Asian man — who also turned out to be an undercover NYPD officer.
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The NYPD said both officers are part of the city's Hate Crime Task Force.
These incidents are part of an upward trend in hate aimed at the AAPI community over the past year. According to the NYPD, there were 39 reported hate crimes against Asians between Jan. 1 and April 4. There were 11 less cases during the same period in 2020.
