Third NYC teen hate crime suspect arrested in Queens bus attack

A third teenage suspect has been arrested in connection to an alleged hate attack on a 57-year-old white woman riding a bus in Queens in July.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz on Wednesday announced hate crime and other charges against Jahnaiya Williams, 19, of Jamaica, New York, for her role in the July 9 attack.

"As alleged, the defendant, as well as two other apprehended individuals, carried out an unprovoked assault on a public transit rider simply because of the victim’s race," Katz said in a Wednesday statement. "I am committed to holding accountable those who perpetuate bias-motivated attacks on the residents of the most diverse county in the world. The defendant is now charged with assault as a hate crime and will be held to account for her alleged actions."

Williams is facing charges of assault in the second and third degree as a hate crime, assault in the second and third degree, menacing in the third degree as a hate crime, aggravated harassment in the second degree and menacing.

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Last month, the New York Police Department (NYPD) announced similar charges against a 15-year-old girl and16-year-old girl related to the attack. They each face two counts of assault while carrying out a hate crime and aggravated harassment while carrying out a hate crime. 

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Just before 7 p.m. on Aug. 9, police said the three suspects approached the 57-year-old female victim, who was riding on the southbound Q52 MTA bus in the vicinity of Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard, and struck her in the head with an unknown object, causing a laceration and bleeding. 

Surveillance footage apparently shows Williams, who was holding a shopping bag, look directly at the victim and say, "I hate white people." 

She also allegedly said she hates white people's skin and told the victim she would "kill" her and "bury" her as the bus passed by a cemetery, according to Katz's office.

Williams and one of the juvenile suspects are accused of spitting on the victim, hitting her repeatedly in the head with a jar and punching the victim multiple times in the head when the bus stopped near the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven before fleeing on foot.

The victim was treated with staples to the laceration on her head after authorities transported her to a nearby hospital following the attack.

The New York Post identified the victim as 57-year-old Jill LeCroix, who told the outlet she has three biracial children, is a grandmother of five and currently works as a bartender. The woman recounted the attack to the newspaper, saying one of the teenage assailants with green hair began shouting that she "hates White people, the way they talk" and accused her of being a fan of former President Trump.

"The one with the green hair, she was saying she hates white people, the way they talk, hates white skin, the way their skin cracks. Saying she was gangsta," LeCroix told the outlet, adding that she was on the way to visit her mother at the time. "I was the only white person on the bus. By the time we started passing St. John’s Cemetery on Woodhaven, she started in on me, saying, ‘That’s where I’m going to bury you!’"

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LeCroix continued: "She had a bag from Bath and Body Works, and she took out a scrub and said she was going to beat me with it. It was tangerine. She said, ‘You’re going to get what you deserve! All white people are going to get what they deserve.’ It was crazy."

Detective Redmond Halpern of the New York City Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force investigated the incident.

Fox News' Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.