NEW YORK (AP) – Police say a man hurled slurs and blows at two transgender women on a New York City street, sending one to a hospital in what authorities are calling a hate crime.
Court records show Patrick O’Meara was being held on $5,000 bond after being arraigned March 18 on hate-crime assault and other charges. A message left for the Legal Aid Society, shown as having represented the Oakdale man, wasn’t immediately returned.
The encounter happened March 17 in the Jackson Heights neighborhood.
Police say the 38-year-old O’Meara yelled anti-gay and anti-women epithets at the victims, then punched one of them and hit the other with a cane and a plastic object.
Witness Maria Munoz told the news site DNAinfo that O’Meara was harassing other passers-by beforehand but became “infuriated” when the victims appeared.
