Brooklyn man faces hate crime charges in stabbing aboard train on first day of Pride Month

Screenshots have been displayed by Crimestoppers of a man wearing a blue short sleeve shirt and matching blue trousers carrying a bag with a white face mask and black baseball cap. In the next image, the man is wearing blue trousers and carrying a black bag but he is now wearing a grey jacket and black baseball cap. The man is a suspect in a stabbing incident on a train in New York City that officers are investigating as a hate crime

A Brooklyn man is facing hate crime charges following a horrific stabbing aboard a train on the first day of Pride Month. 

The police have identified the suspect as Runadieo Jordan, 52, the New York Post reported. Officers with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) said Jordan is the suspect in an attack that took place on the northbound 2 train that was approaching the 3rd Avenue and 149th Street station in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday (1 June). 

Jordan is accused of hurling homophobic insults at a male passenger before stabbing a “sharp object” into the victim’s right arm and fleeing from the train, the NYPD said. 

Emergency services rushed the victim, who had non-life-threatening injuries, to the Lincoln Medical Center.

Patrick Warren, chief safety and security officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said in a statement that Jordan was apprehended by NYPD Transit officers while on a “northbound #6 train after recognising him from a wanted flyer related to a stabbing the day before”.

“This arrest removed another weapon from the transit system,” Warren said. “We have repeatedly said that it is a priority to stop bad actors before they can commit crimes against other New Yorkers.”

Jordan has been charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, criminal possession of a weapon and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.

The victim, who has been identified as Tavon Silver, spoke to Fox 5 NY about the terrifying assault just days after he was stabbed in the arm by a stranger. Silver recalled that he and his fiancé were riding the subway at around 1am on Wednesday playing music loudly when a stranger got on the train. 

He said the man began yelling homophobic slurs at them and then the stranger stabbed him in the arm.

“Next thing I know, like, I had a hole in my arm. Like blood was gushing everywhere,” Silver said. “It was one straight cut, and he took a giant chunk of my wrist.”

He continued: “He literally cut my wrist off. So, like, if you look straight through, you can see my bone.”

Silver described how the man approached him as he was losing “consciousness on the floor” and hurled another homophobic slur as he walked by the pair.

The 31-year-old told the outlet that he was “happy to have my life” and has gotten the “feeling back in my fingers”. Despite the horrific encounter, Silver said he didn’t plan to change his life and didn’t want his attack to keep others off the subway.

“I want to see more gay people on the 2 train for me,” Silver said. “Like, it’s not going to change anything that happened to me. Like, I don’t. And I’m not going to change my life just because of this.”

 

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