A New York City homeless man who was arrested Monday for allegedly smearing his own feces on a woman’s face inside a Bronx subway station has already been released, according to reports.
Frank Abrokwa, 37, was arraigned Tuesday for his alleged subway poop attack, which took place on February 21, according to the New York Daily News. The incident occurred on the southbound platform of the Wakefield-241 St. Subway Station in the Bronx around 5:15 p.m., Breitbart News reported.
Warning: the below video contains disturbing content. Viewer discretion is advised.
Assistant District Attorney Grace Phillips said Abrokwa, who has 44 prior arrests WABC noted, attempted to speak to the 43-year-old victim.
“Hey, mami, hey, mami, why don’t you talk to me?” Abrokwa allegedly said, per the Daily News. After the victim ignored him, he walked into an idling subway car, defecated into a plastic bag, and returned to the woman to wipe his feces on her face, prosecutors say.
“You like this, b—h?” Abrokwa asked the victim, according to prosecutors.
The victim told WABC, using a translator, “I got out of work and was waiting for train, sat down for a moment. All of a sudden, a man approaches me,” adding, “He hits me in the face and throws a bag of feces. He spreads it all over my face, in my hair, without a motive, for no reason.”
Surveillance video shows stranger attack woman with feces on subway platform (DCPI).
He allegedly told police, “(Expletive) happens” and “This is a (expletive) situation,” the outlet reported.
He is charged with forcible touching, disorderly conduct, menacing, and harassment.
Abrokwa was subsequently arrested following the arraignment Tuesday as detectives recognized him as the suspect from an anti-Semitic incident last year in Brooklyn, the Daily News reported.
Police said that on September 9, 2021, he called a Jewish man a “f—ing Jew” before spitting and swinging at him, according to the outlet. He was arraigned Wednesday and charged with harassment and menacing as hate crimes for the incident, yet he is free to roam the streets of New York.
“Sources familiar with the proceeding said that because his other open cases were all misdemeanors, not felonies, the court couldn’t set bail,” the Daily News said.
“There’s no law in this city,” the Brooklyn victim, Menachem Minkowitz, told the outlet. “I’m glad he’s caught. I feel terrible for that woman. I’m very disappointed with how the city is handling these situations.”
The defendant allegedly committed a number of additional crimes in the months leading to the alleged subway attack and even the day after.
He allegedly slugged a 30-year-old man in the face at the 125th Street subway station in Harlem on January 7, and less than a month later, on February 5, “he allegedly punched a 53-year-old man at the Port Authority Bus Terminal,” according to WABC.
For the January 7 incident, he was charged with third-degree assault, third-degree attempted assault, and second-degree harassment, according to the New York Post. For the alleged February 5 assault, he was charged with third-degree assault, second-degree aggravated harassment, and third-degree attempted assault.
Metropolitan Transit Authority chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said the fact that Abrokwa is free to roam the streets “defies common sense,” according to the outlet:
I’m not a criminal justice expert but I don’t understand how someone who commits this kind of assault – which was violent, horribly victimizing a transit rider – can just walk free even when he has four other open cases against him, including two other transit assaults and a hate crime charge. It defies common sense.
Abrokwa allegedly attempted to pilfer a screwdriver and pepper spray from a Bronx hardware store on February 22, WABC reported. When an employee called him out, he encouraged him to call the police and was arrested. He was charged with petit larceny, menacing, and misdemeanor weapon possession.
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