A postal worker has been accused of spitting on and shouting anti-Muslim slurs at a 30-year-old woman in a hijab in Brooklyn last week, according to the NYPD.
Danton Coley, of Brooklyn, has been charged with acting in an manner injurious to a child, aggravated harassment and menacing after the exchange in a grocery store on Nostrand Avenue on Friday.
Authorities say that Coley allegedly began yelling at the woman and her sister after she bumped into him while pushing her baby stroller. He followed the women into a grocery store and kept shouting before eventually running away. Surveillance video captured the encounter.
"She heard 'Muslim' and other derogatory words, and that guy said something I think like, 'I'm going to burn down your temple,' and then the person proceeded to spit in her face and elbow her," according to the sisters' attorney, Mustapha Ndanusa.
The USPS said its Office of Inspector General was notified about the incident late Monday night.
Ndanusa said his clients aren't ready to speak publicly about the incident but the sisters were on their way home from a nearby mosque before the encounter inside the store.
Ndanusa said startled bystanders asked the alleged victim, "'Why is your husband or boyfriend treating you like this?' And she said, 'I don't know who this guy is. Never seen him a day in my life.'"
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Police say the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force was investigating the case. It's not clear if Coley will face hate-crime charges.
No one answered at his Brooklyn home, and Coley did not respond to reporters when he was led from the police station after his arrest. It's not clear if he has an attorney.
