Bronx train stabber busted for anti-gay hate crime
A Brooklyn man has been busted for hurling anti-gay slurs as he stabbed a man on a Bronx subway train for playing music too loud, police said Saturday.
Runadieo Jordan, 52, was grabbed Thursday night when NYPD Transit cops spotted him on a Bronx-bound No. 6 train at the Brooklyn Bridge station, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said.
The officers immediately recognized Jordan from a wanted poster about the attack on a Wakefield-bound No. 2 train a day earlier, authorities said.
Cops took Jordan in for questioning and on Friday, they charged him with assault as a hate crime, criminal possession of a weapon and aggravated harassment as a hate crime, an NYPD spokesman said.
Runadieo was on the No. 2 train approaching the Third Ave.-E. 149th St. station about 1 a.m. Wednesday when he demanded a 31-year-old straphanger turn down his music, cops said.
“Turn the music down, f----t!” Runadieo yelled before he pulled out a blade and stabbed the victim in the right forearm, according to cops.
The victim was treated at Lincoln Hospital.
During a video canvass of the area, cops recovered surveillance images of Runadieo wearing two sets of clothing within the span of a few minutes, an NYPD spokesman said.
The arrest “removed another weapon from the transit system,” MTA Chief Safety and Security Officer Patrick Warren said.
“NYPD Transit officers again demonstrated their professionalism and commitment to protecting subway riders when they apprehended a violent criminal on a northbound #6 train after recognizing him from a wanted flyer related to a stabbing the day before,” Warren said.
The city has seen a 13% increase in assaults in the subway system so far this year. As of May 29, 250 assaults had been investigated by Transit Bureau police officers — 30 more than the same time last year.
