NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Texas man is facing hate crime charges after he allegedly vandalized a Mother Mary statue and defecated on a Flushing church sign, police said Thursday.
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According to police, Jia Wang crashed his car into the front lawn of Mary's Nativity-St. Ann Parish on Monday afternoon and drove over a sign.
Rev. Jose Diaz told The Tablet that he ran outside after hearing the ruckus, first thinking it was an accident, until he saw Wang put the car in reverse and run over the sign again.
Diaz said Wang then allegedly pointed his vehicle at him and accelerated. The reverend fled up the church steps and recorded the rest of the incident.
Wang, 37, then exited his car and used a carjack to whack the Mary statue before defecating on the damaged church sign.
"Another time, he tried to throw a water bottle at me, but I closed the door in his face," Diaz said. "He's screaming and throwing middle fingers at me — yelling, 'F*** you! F*** you!'"
Diaz said he then emptied "everything" from his car across the lawn and onto the street.
Police said Wang also threw an unidentified object at a 57-year-old woman's car as it was passing the church, damaging her passenger side door.
Diaz said the 37-year-old "walked around a bit, then sat down on the front steps and waited for the cops to come."
He was taken into custody by the police, and EMS transported him to NYC Health and Hospitals/Queens for a medical evaluation.
Wang is charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime, attempted criminal mischief as a hate crime, criminal mischief of property, attempted criminal interference with religious worship, two counts of reckless endangerment of property and attempted reckless endangerment of property.
While police said no one was physically injured during the ordeal, Diaz told the outlet that his "nerves were shot" the day after the incident.
"I was exhausted," he said. "I barely slept Monday night. I didn't fall asleep until 2 o'clock in the morning. I had so much adrenaline running through me."
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