Muslim teen verbally attacked on NYC subway
Police on Wednesday, Dec.14, said the New Hyde Park teen made up the story about being verbally attacked on a New York City subway train. Read more here.
NEW YORK -- New York City police are looking for three men who taunted a Muslim woman aboard a subway train, yelling “Donald Trump” and calling her a terrorist.
Yasmin Seweid, 18, was still shaken by the traumatic train ride, CBS New York reports.
Around 10 p.m. Thursday, she got on the 6 train at East 23rd Street and Park Avenue after leaving a school event at Baruch College.
“I heard them talk, but I had my headphones in, I wasn’t really listening, I had a long day. And they came closer and I distinctly heard them saying, ‘Donald Trump,’” she said.
Seweid said she was then verbally attacked by the three drunk, white men.
“They were surrounding me from behind and they were like, ‘Oh look, it’s an f-ing terrorist,’” she said. “I didn’t answer. They pulled my strap of the bag and it ripped, and that’s when I turned around and I was really polite and I was like, ‘can you please leave me alone?’ and everyone was looking, no one said a thing, everyone just looked away.”
Seweid said no one stopped the men, not even when they tried to tear off her hijab.
“They kept saying, ‘you don’t belong here, get out of this country, go back to your country,’ and finally they came really close and they were like, ‘take that rag off your head,’” she said.
The Brooklyn born woman, and proud American citizen, was horrified by what happened, and worried it could happen again.
“The president-elect just promotes this stuff and is very anti-Muslim, very Islamophobic, and he’s just condoning it,” she said.
The NYPD said the Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating and looking for witnesses to identify the men.
Meanwhile, Seweid said she plans to continue taking the subway.
