Umbrella Assault To Be Investigated As Hate Crime, Police Say

EAST NEW YORK — Police are hunting for one of two men who hurled anti-gay slurs at a woman and cut her face with an umbrella.

The 38-year-old woman was standing outside a bodega near Miller Avenue and Fulton Street around 4:10 a.m. on Friday, May 26 when Alex Santiago, 26 and another man began screaming derogatory comments about her sexual orientation, police said.

The woman tried to walk away, but the two men followed her down the street screaming obscenities until she turned to confront them, said police.

At this point, one of the men grabbed an umbrella and struck her across the face with such force it slashed her left cheek, said police.

Both men fled, but officers arrested Santiago when the woman — who was later taken to Brookdale Hospital for her injuries — identified him on the street during a police canvass.

Santiago, of East New York, has been charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, among other charges, court records show.

Police are still searching for Santiago’s companion, whom they describe as a man in his early twenties, standing five-foot-eight and weighing about 200 pounds, who was last seen wearing a blue baseball cap, white hoodie, jeans and blue sneakers.

Photos courtesy of the NYPD