A man was arrested Wednesday for attacking a woman and destroying her phone on a Brooklyn subway platform as he shouted Islamophobic remarks, cops said.
Christopher Nastasa, 39, was arrested on 19 charges, including robbery, assault, petit larceny and criminal mischief as hate crimes, for the March 17 attack, according to police.
The 20-year-old victim was sitting beside her attacker on a bench at the Ninth Ave. station in Sunset Park when he started ranting about the war in Iran and yelling about “terrorists walking around” the city, police sources said.
The suspect then called the victim a terrorist and spewed Islamophobic slurs as he threw her to the ground on the Manhattan-bound D train platform around 10:50 a.m., cops said.
EMS treated the woman at the scene for minor injuries.
Nastasa has been arrested 38 times in New York City, with charges including robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, grand larceny, threat by phone and criminal contempt.
The NYPD released images of the suspect on Tuesday, as members of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged anyone with knowledge of the attacker to come forward.
“This alleged anti-Muslim attack is a reminder of the real dangers that bigotry poses to the safety of New Yorkers. No one should fear being targeted because of their faith or perceived identity,” CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher said. “Acts of hate have no place in our city, and we must stand together to ensure justice for the victim and to help prevent future attacks.”