CROWN HEIGHTS — A woman smashed a man in the face with a rock, spit on him, and hurled anti-gay slurs at him during an attack on the victim that also included five other people, according to prosecutors.
Safire Ellington, 18, confronted the 36-year-old victim at Carroll Street and Utica Avenue in Crown Heights at about 11 p.m. Tuesday night and began punching him and hitting him in the face with a rock while calling him “f----t” and other anti-gay slurs, according to police and prosecutors.
Five other people who were with Ellington at the time also began yelling homophobic slurs at the victim — and when he tried to call the police, one of them, Leroy Bacchus, 33, smacked the cell phone out of his hand, breaking it on the sidewalk, sources said.
The victim suffered bleeding from the nose, police said. He was not hospitalized.
Ellington and Bacchus were arrested shortly after the incident. Ellington was arraigned on assault as a hate crime and 10 other charges, including aggravated harassment, menacing and possession of marijuana. Bacchus was arraigned on charges of criminal mischief for stopping an emergency call, along with menacing and harassment, court documents show.
The pair were issued temporary orders of protection and released without bail, according to court documents.
Bacchus is due back in court Sept. 8 and Ellington is due back on Sept. 14.
Four others involved in the group that attacked the 36-year-old were still at large as of Thursday, police said.
Anyone with information about the crime is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
Take a look at crime trends in Crown Heights in the below map, compiled by DNAinfo New York using the most recent data from the NYPD:
