NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 16-year-old boy was taken into custody and charged with robbery and gang assault as a hate crime following a violent attack at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn this week.
The victim, a Black teenager on his way to school, was surrounded around 8 a.m. Monday by a group of teens who punched and kicked him while shouting racial slurs, police said.
According to multiple reports, one of the attackers also threw a banana at the 16-year-old victim during the assault.
The NYPD has not released the name of the juvenile suspect, nor described his race, as the department continues to investigate the attack and search for others involved.
Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), condemned the assault, saying, “We don't want to see our youth or any person of any age attacked, especially when it's racially motivated. So it really is something that should bring sadness to all New Yorkers and all Americans in general.”
Nasher also offered support to the victim: "Imagine what that does to him for the rest of his life. This is going to be a memory that is ingrained and a part of his experience forever."