A video that has gone viral on Instagram shows the disturbing assault on a 15-year-old boy with autism who was dragged onto the Manhattan subway and then beaten on the platform by strangers who hurled a racial slur at him.
The alarming video, posted to Instagram on Monday, shows a young woman pulling the helpless teenager from a subway car, shouting, “Get off!”
She holds the boy by his shirt, and drags him after her in this way, ordering him variously to walk.
A male voice is then heard shouting the “N” word.
The teenager tries to get back into a subway car, but is chased by the young woman, who then attacks him.
Brought back to the platform, the teenager then suffered a flurry of blows, while his glasses were taken away from him.
Voices around encourage aggression.
The boy was punched several times in the head and face, and suffered a cut on the lip, NYPD said on Facebook.
Officers released a photo of the three suspects, who appear to be teenagers themselves.
The victim did not know his attackers, according to New York police, who said the Hate Crime Task Force was notified because of the anti-Black slur used.
The boy’s mother, who did not wish to be identified due to fears for her and her son’s safety, told WABC that her son did not know who attacked him or why.
The mother said she had not seen the harrowing footage of the assault, telling the outlet: ‘I refuse to watch this video. Nobody wants to see their child being attacked.”
She knew her son, who has high-functioning autism, had left their home that night, but she was shocked to learn he had reached upper Manhattan and was being treated at the hospital.
“Watch them more closely,” she said in a warning to other parents. “Because a lot of trouble could have been avoided if I had done that.”
