Last year, Allasheed Allah assaulted a woman after yelling homophobic slurs for kissing her friend in a New York subway, fracturing her spine in the process. Recently, Allah pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree assault with a hate crime attached to it, according to Metro Weekly.
To recap the event, a twenty-year-old woman kissed her female friend on the cheek while riding on a subway in Queens, angering Allasheed Allah, who called the woman a homophobic slur and threatened that if she kissed her friend again, he would kill her. The woman and her friend tried to walk away as to deescalate the situation, but Allah decided to follow them and proceeded to punch the woman in the back of the head, causing her to get pushed into a pole, hitting her head again, which made her fall on the floor, fracturing her back. Allasheed fled the scene shortly after. The woman has thankfully recovered from her injuries and, as mentioned above, Allasheed was arrested for this crime.
Rather than going through a full trial, Allasheed decided to plead guilty to a charge of third-degree assault. About two weeks after his arrest, he admitted to the police that he assaulted the woman because she was somehow disrespecting him with “all that gay sh*t.” This well-spoken man doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of minding one’s own business, because an innocent peck on the cheek isn’t disrespectful in any way. Regardless, because he admitted to that motive, the third-degree assault charge had a hate crime charge tacked onto it, and Allasheed may be facing three years in prison.
Queens District Attorney John Ryan said in a statement that this type of assault cannot be tolerated in Queens, which he says is the most diverse district in the entire country. It’s truly sad that people react so violently to an innocent kiss, but I’m glad that these types of assault do not go unpunished. Hopefully people will learn to be more tolerant, but I’m not holding my breath.
Source: Metro Weekly