A man filming a TikTok video on a Manhattan street was attacked by a passerby who first called him an anti-gay slur, according to the New York City Police Department.
The attack, which was caught on video, happened Saturday just before midnight in the city’s financial district. The NYPD said the suspect punched the 24-year-old victim in the face and back of the head, cutting his lip and bloodying his nose.
The suspect then fled on foot, according to a police report. The NYPD released an image and video of the attack in the hopes that the public could assist in identifying the suspect.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
Nearly 1 in 5 hate crimes reported in the U.S. in 2018 were motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias, according to the FBI’s most recent Hate Crimes Statistics Report. And a report released this year by the South Poverty Law Center found anti-LGBTQ hate groups increased 43 percent from 2018 to 2019.
