NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) is investigating a possible hate crime after a disturbing video of three girls screaming and cursing at a family on a Manhattan subway train went viral on social media. According to CBS News, the incident took place on Thursday aboard an F train in Greenwich Village.
The video showed the trio of girls sitting directly across from the family before one of them allegedly launched the assaults. They were heard shouting and cursing at a woman, her husband and her 11-year-old twin girls. They were also recorded punching a straphanger, Joanna Lin, who later posted the disturbing video on Instagram.
Take a look below:
According to CBS News, one of the girls attacked the 51-year-old mother. She allegedly pulled her hair, punched her repeatedly and made an "anti-ethnic remark" towards the victim, who is Asian. The teen girl also punched Ms Lin for recording the tumultuous scene.
"I'm in shock & still at a loss for words except for what I documented on the reel," Ms Lin wrote while sharing the clip. "I'll be ok, just a bit sore on the head and tailbone," she added.
The other woman, identified as Sue Young, told the outlet that the violence started when the three girls began laughing and pointing at her, her husband and their 11-year-old twin daughters. "It was just insult, after insult, after insult. And, finally, my husband felt like he needed to step in and so he was like, 'Can you use some better words besides those?'" Ms Young said. However, this only enraged the girls and they began threatening the 51-year-old and shouting at her family.
When the trio realised that they were being recorded by Ms Lin, one of the girls stormed over and allegedly pummeled her. "She ran over, grabbed me by the hair, threw me on the ground and started punching me several times," Ms Lin told CBS.
Ms Young said she couldn't watch Ms Lin being attacked without doing something to help so she got up to push the teen off Ms Lin, but that's when the same girl began punching her, she said.
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Ms Young broke her glasses and had a headache for a couple of days because her hair was pulled. She even suffered two large bruises on her arm.
Speaking to the outlet, she said that other passengers came to her rescue and were able to stop the girls from inflicting further violence. She and her family, along with Ms Lin, got off at the next station, where the police were called.
Now, the NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident.