NYPD Says Woman Made Racist Remarks Before Bashing Man With Chair At McDonald's
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD is searching for a suspect who attacked a customer inside a McDonald's restaurant.
Investigators said she made racist remarks and then threw a chair.
A quiet Monday morning at the McDonald's restaurant on Canal Street turned violent.
A 33-year-old construction worker was sitting inside on the second floor of the restaurant when a woman started saying things that were "anti-Hispanic" and then threw a chair at him and hit him in the face, according to police.
"She say like (expletive) Mexicans, (expletive) immigrants and (expletive) illegals," Miguel Ucho told CBS2's Lisa Rozner on Wednesday.
Ucho, who is from Ecuador and lives in Elmhurst, said he was with his sister actually killing time before an immigration appointment. They said they heard the racist rant as they walked by the woman, but ignored it and grabbed a table to eat breakfast.
"And then I turn to take a table and I saw there was a chair over me, but I couldn't do anything. That happened in seconds," Ucho said. "And then she run to the bathroom and she took an umbrella and she hit me with the umbrella, also."
The woman then ran off, and tried to get into the Canal Street train station, but couldn't get past the turnstile. It's not clear where she went from there, but police are looking for her.
Ucho said he came to the U.S. because he was discriminated in his home country for being gay. And now this happens.
"It is sad for me," he said. "I try to live my life and I don't like to do anything to nobody because you know we are humans, but I never expected this."
Customers were outraged.
"People shouldn't be racist. It's ridiculous," Ajalica Harper-Greenidge said.
"Just throwing chairs and stuff, that's not cool. McDonald's got to get better with their security now too," Rich Chino added.
"It's tragic, man, in this day and age people haven't learned racism is not acceptable. It's not a good look on the city," David Delmoral said.
The suspect was last seen wearing a tan jacket, black pants and black and white sneakers.
The victim was taken to New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital with injuries to his face.
McDonald's said it is cooperating with police and handing over surveillance footage.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.
Anyone with any information is asked to call NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. You can also submit a tip via the Crime Stoppers website, by Tweeting @NYPDTips or by texting a tip to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.
