The New York City Police Department arrested a man Sunday for allegedly threatening an off-duty Muslim NYPD officer who was wearing her hijab, CBS New York reported.
Christopher Nelson, 36, of Brooklyn, was charged with menacing as a hate crime and aggravated harassment, according to media reports.
Aml Elsokary was parking her car in Brooklyn Saturday evening when she spotted someone shoving and yelling at her 16-year-old son, according to a police report cited by outlets.
The unarmed Elsokary confronted the suspect, who allegedly told her, “ISIS (expletive), I will cut your throat go back to your country.” During the encounter, Elsokary did not identify herself as an officer, Associated Press noted from a police account.
The suspect fled the scene. However, cops apparently identified him on surveillance video.
In a Facebook entry posted Sunday, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack.
The incident follows a recently released Southern Poverty Law Center report that hundreds of hate crimes have been committed since Donald Trump was elected president.
The NYPD Muslim Officers Society called the threat on Elsokary “a very sad moment [that] an officer who risked her life while saving a baby was subjected to such horrific treatment.”
In 2014, Elsokary was praised for her courage after she carried a 1-year-old girl from a burning apartment building.
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