Man charged with hate crime for using N-word, punching woman in Brooklyn subway

A Brooklyn man is facing hate crime charges for punching a 70-year-old Black woman and calling her the N-word during a clash with the stranger at a Brooklyn subway stop, police said Wednesday.
Allan Damsky, 69, was trying to avoid the fare by entering the Kings Highway subway stop in Midwood through the exit gate about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday when he bumped into the victim, who was exiting the station with her husband, police said.
When the woman said he should slow down, Damsky called her the N-word, cops say.
“Shut up you stupid n—-r!” he allegedly scowled.
When the stunned woman asked what he meant by that, Damsky immediately began arguing with the woman, screaming, “You want me to punch you, you f—ing n—-r?” cops said.
He fulfilled his threat a moment later, allegedly striking the woman in the face.
A pair of officers patrolling the station took Damsky into custody.
Damsky, who gave his home address as the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters on Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, claimed to cops the woman attacked him first and that he was defending himself. He also claimed the victim called him a “goddamn Zionist” before she attacked him.
“She was running her mouth but I gave it back to her,” Damsky told cops, police say. “But race had nothing to do with this.”
The woman suffered a bloody lip but wasn’t seriously hurt.
Cops charged Damsky with assault as a hate crime. He also had an open warrant but it was not immediately disclosed what it was for.
At his Brooklyn criminal court arraignment Wednesday evening, Damsky, wearing a brown jacket, requested an orange hat because he had no yarmulke to wear. He was released on his own recognizance, and under an order of protection, was told to stay away from the victim.
“You may have no contact with this person directly by mail, email, text or any electronic means,” Judge Nancy Carrington said. “You may not go near this person’s home, school, place of business or anywhere this person may be. You must have no contact with this person in any way you can imagine.”
With Nicholas Williams