Black Man Charged with Hate Crime

By AFRO Staff

A Black Pennsylvania man has been charged with beating and throwing another man onto a train track in a racially motivated attack, according to Port Authority of Allegheny County police.

Willie J. Hayes, 46, who is Black, was charged May 29 with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Willie J. Hayes (Twitter Photo)

Police say surveillance video from the Wood Street Light Rail Transit station in Sharpsburg, Pa., shows the suspect punching Charles Basarab three times, and then shoving onto the tracks.

According to CBS local affiliate KDKA <https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/05/30/wood-street-t-station-assault-ethnic-intimidation-charges-willie-hayes/> , the victim told investigators the suspect said “he was assaulting him because he was white.”

Hayes allegedly walked over to the edge of the platform, looked down and said, “I [expletive] told you I was going to kill you,” witnesses said, according to the criminal complaint.

Basarab hit his head and fell unconscious. He was treated at a local hospital for numerous broken bones, bruises, cuts and facial injuries, and underwent surgery to stop internal bleeding, KDKA reported.

Hayes has been held in jail after failing to pay a $50,000 bond. He will make in his first appearance in court in June.

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