Police have released security camera footage of the suspect who allegedly attacked a white couple in a Brooklyn subway station and, as the NYPD put it, "uttered anti-white statements." The assault occurred on the night of Friday, February 5th at 9:45 p.m., when the suspect approached the victim and his fiancée on the southbound B/Q platform and sucker-punched the victim, 44-year-old Randy Aveille, in the face, yelling, "Cracka, you don't belong here!"
Aveille fell to the floor, at which point his assailant tried to kick him, allegedly shouting, "Someone get his white cracka ass off the floor! It’s a black neighborhood!" When Aveille's fiancée intervened, the suspect elbowed her in the back of the head and fled the station. A female bystander chased him, until he turned and spat in her face.
Here's video of the suspect released by the NYPD, which his investigating the assault as a possible hate crime:
Aveille sustained bruising to his right eye and a bloody nose. In an interview with the Daily News, Aveille said the assault may have been sparked by a misunderstanding: his attacker had been standing between him and a woman on the train who he thought was actress Emily Bergl of the Showtime series Shameless. “He must have thought that I was staring... or challenging him in some way."
"I think [current residents] are feeling pushed out," Aveille said. "My fiancée and I have walked to the train, and we've heard people having conversations about white people moving to the neighborhood. It's not the first time I've gotten the vibe, but [those weren't] directed to me. You never think it's going to happen to you, [but] I guess everybody who gets attacked thinks that."
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
