Anti-Gay Subway Attack Leaves Woman With Cracked Spine, Cops Say

FOREST HILLS, NY — A bigoted straphanger cracked a woman's spine late last month in an anti-gay attack aboard a subway train in Queens, police said. The Nov. 30 assault is being investigated as a hate crime, an NYPD spokesman said.

The riders got into an argument around 5:10 p.m. that day on a Manhattan-bound E train on its way to the Forest Hills-71st Avenue station, police said.

Police said it's unknown what the argument was about, but at one point the male attacker hurled an anti-lesbian slur at the 20-year-old woman. The brute went up behind the woman as she walked away from him, punched her in the back of the head and pushed her to the floor, causing her to hit her head, according to the NYPD.

The woman was treated for a fractured spine at Elmhurst Hospital Center, the NYPD said. Police are still looking for her attacker, who they say hopped off the train at the Forest Hills station.

The assailant was captured on video. He's described as a 50-to-60-year-old man standing 5-foot-11 and weighing 220 pounds.

Anyone with information about the incident can call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-8477 or 1-888-577-4782 to leave a tip in Spanish. New Yorkers can also text tips to 274637 or submit them online at nypdcrimestoppers.com.

(Lead image: Police say this man hurled an anti-gay slur at a woman and punched her in the head on an E train last month. Photo and video courtesy of the NYPD)