Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday that Ramon Castro, 55, was indicted by a Queens grand jury and arraigned on hate crime charges for allegedly slashing a man in the face after using racial and homophobic slurs near a subway station in Flushing, Queens on July 6.
“In Queens, we value our diversity,” Katz said. “Attacking others because of their ethnicity or who they love is never acceptable. It will not be tolerated here. We will now seek to bring this defendant to justice for his alleged hate crimes.”
Castro, of Plimpton Avenue, in the Bronx, was charegd with first- and second-degree assault as a hate crime, first- and second-degree assault, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree aggravated harassment and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Castro will return to court Nov. 22, and if convicted, faces up to 15 years in prison.
According to District Attorney Katz at 3 a.m. on July 6, the defendant allegedly yelled “I hate Latinos and f—-t people” at a man who was standing near a subway station at the intersection of 77th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, Queens. Castro allegedly attacked the victim, cutting the 34-year-old man on the left cheek with a sharp object. Following the unprovoked attack, the defendant ran from the scene.
The victim was taken to a local hospital, where numerous stitches were required to close a wound on his face.
