LIRR Rider Whose Racist Rant Went Viral Charged With Hate Crime

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS -- A LIRR rider whose minutes-long racist rant toward a fellow passenger went viral was charged with a hate crime on Wednesday for the verbal attack, prosecutors said.

Edward Ruggiero, 58, could now face time behind bars and a hefty fine for unleashing a spew of racist slurs and threatening to physically assault a fellow passenger in his rant aboard a Long Island Rail Road train from Forest Hills to Jamaica, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

"The bigotry and hatred that the defendant is accused of manifesting and acting upon have no place in a civilized society - especially in Queens County, the most culturally diverse county in the nation," Brown said.

An anonymous passenger caught Ruggiero, of Long Island, the night of April 19 exploding on Soraya Orelien, a Black woman riding the train home from class at Baruch College in Manhattan, the New York Daily News reported.

In a video provided to ABC7 Eyewitness News that has since racked up more than 20,000 views, the man is shown turning beat read as he screams at Orelien for talking too loudly with her friends.

"Shut the f--- up you f---ing loud-mouthed money motherf---er," he yelled at her from his seat on the train.

Ruggiero then further escalated the verbal attack by getting up out of his seat, raising his hand toward Orelien and screaming, "I'll smack the [expletive] out of you, you loud mouth monkey [expletive]," according to the charges.

He then continued ranting at Ruggiero, calling her a "black monkey" and telling her to, "Get off at Jamaica. Get off in the ghetto," before completing his racist tirade with monkey sounds.

“No one should be subjected to the vile words and intimidating actions the defendant is accused of tormenting the victim with," Brown said.

Ruggiero was charged with menacing as a hate crime and aggravated harassment for his outburst and is awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.

If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

(Lead photo via Shutterstock)