UPPER WEST SIDE — A straphanger riding a downtown 2 train with his boyfriend was beaten and bombarded with anti-gay slurs in a Monday evening rush-hour subway assault that police are investigating as a hate crime.
The 23-year-old victim, identified as Urena Morel Frankelly in published reports, boarded the downtown 2 train with his boyfriend at Lenox Avenue and West 125th Street about 6 p.m. when a woman began taking pictures of him and his partner as they ate a meal, according to reports and the NYPD.
When Frankelly told her to stop she started hurling homophobic slurs at him, prompting an argument, cops said.
"Feed you face, f----t," the woman shouted at him, according to the Daily News.
The argument escalated and the woman, along with two other women and three men, started attacking Frankelly, cops said.
Frankelly and his boyfriend escaped at the next stop at 96th Street and Broadway, police said. He was taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center with his left eye swollen shut and a cut above it, the News reported.
Police released sketches of two of the suspects: a woman in her 20s wearing grey sweatpants and a man approximately 5-foot-9-inches tall about the same age who was wearing a blue jacket.
The other four suspects are believed to be about the same age.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto Crime Stoppers' website or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then entering TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
