(PatriotWise.com)- A third teen has been detained in connection with a July hate attack on a 57-year-old white woman on a Queens bus.
Queens DA Melinda Katz announced hate crime and other charges against Jahnaiya Williams, 19, of Jamaica, New York, on Wednesday.
Katz said Wednesday that the defendant and two other arrested individuals allegedly attacked a public transit user because of the victim’s race. She said she is dedicated to holding accountable those who launch biased attacks on the world’s most diverse county. She added that the defendant has been charged with a hate crime and will be held accountable.
Williams is charged with second-and third-degree assault, menacing in the third degree as a hate crime, aggravated harassment in the second degree, and menacing.
Last month, the NYPD charged a 15-year-old and 16-year-old girl with the attack. Each faces two counts of assault and aggravated harassment during a hate crime.
Police say three suspects approached a 57-year-old woman on a southbound Q52 MTA bus near Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard on Aug. 9 and hit her head with an unknown weapon, causing a cut and blood.
Williams, clutching a shopping bag, allegedly told the victim, “I hate white people,” on surveillance video.
She allegedly threatened the woman she would “murder” and “bury” her as the bus passed a cemetery, Katz’s office said.
Williams and one of the juvenile suspects are accused of spitting on the girl, beating her in the head with a jar, and punching her many times on the bus before fleeing on foot.
Following the attack, authorities treated the victim’s head laceration with staples.
The New York Post identified the woman as 57-year-old Jill LeCroix, a bartender with three biracial children and five grandchildren. The woman told the newspaper one of the attackers with green hair shouted that she “hates White people, the way they talk” and how their skin cracks. She also accused her of liking former President Trump.
LeCroix was on her way to see her mother at the time. She said she was the only white person on the bus. When they passed St. John’s Cemetery on Woodhaven, she said, “That’s where I’ll bury you!”
She said she had a Bath and Body Works soap bottle and swore she’d beat her with it.
She said you’ll get what you deserve. All whites will get what they deserve.
