JACKSON HEIGHTS — A Long Island man attacked two transgender women on Friday afternoon, shouting anti-gay slurs as he beat them outside a fast-food restaurant in what police have charged as a hate crime.
Patrick O'Meara, 38, started yelling at the women as they tried to enter McDonald's on 82nd Street, near Roosevelt Avenue, around 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to police.
He called the women "b--ches" and "f-ggots" and attacked them, pushing one woman to the ground and punching and kicking her, police said.
He briefly left the scene and returned with a cane, hitting one of the victims in the left hand, which caused a laceration, authorities said.
One of the victims also had a fractured ankle from the assault, and was taken to Forest Hills Hospital for her injuries, according to the criminal complaint. The other woman was treated at the scene, police said.
O'Meara allegedly told police, "Those b--ches assaulted me, I'm pressing charges, f--k you, you f--cking f-ggot," according to the criminal complaint.
Maria Munoz, who saw the attack, said he was shirtless and yelling at people on the street before he flew into a rage.
"He was harassing everybody that was walking by but when the trans women walked by he clearly was infuriated," Munoz said.
In January, O'Meara drunkenly stole a Volvo in Manhattan and was charged with grand larceny auto and driving while intoxicated, police said. Officers found a glass crack pipe in his pocket when he was arrested.
He also had at least five other arrests, but they were sealed, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
Bianey García, an organizer with Make the Road New York, condemned the attack on behalf of the group's 20,000 members.
"We condemn this brutal hate attack and stand in solidarity with the survivors. We are horrified that transgender individuals in our community have suffered yet another hate attack," she said in a statement.
"Transgender immigrant women like me are part of the heart and soul of our Jackson Heights, and we will not stand idly by as our community faces discrimination and violence."
O'Meara was arraigned Saturday in Queens Criminal Court, and is being held on Rikers Island in lieu of $5,000 bond or $2,500 cash bail, officials said. He's due back in court on March 31.
His lawyer, Howard Turman, did not respond to a request for comment.
