CHELSEA — Police are hunting a suspect who punched a Jewish man in the face as he left the 14th Street F and M subway station.
As the 67-year-old victim, from Brooklyn, walked south near the corner of 16th Street and Sixth Avenue on Dec. 14 at roughly 11:15 a.m., the male attacker punched him, knocking his yarmulke and hat off, police said.
The suspect fled the scene and the victim refused medical attention, the NYPD said.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force was investigating the attack as a possible hate crime, authorities said. The results of that investigation couldn't be confirmed Wednesday.
In December, JPUpdates reported the suspect said, “You want to be first? Let’s go” to the victim before he punched him.
The victim’s son told the website there were “a lot of people passing the street at the time of the assault and noone stopped him.”
Following the attack in December, Councilman Corey Johnson issued a statement thanking the task force for its investigation.
“This type of hate violence is truly appalling,” Johnson said. “No New Yorker should ever be targeted because of his or her religious affiliation.”
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
