A 16-year-old has been charged with a hate crime in connection to a group attack on a Black teen in Brooklyn, according to officials.

The family of the teen who was attacked is calling on police to arrest and charge the others involved.

What You Need To Know

  • A 16-year-old has been charged with a hate crime in connection to a group attack on a Black teen in Brooklyn, according to officials

  • The family of the teen who was attacked is calling on police to arrest and charge the others involved

  • Police sources said the three to five suspects who attacked the Black teen were white

“My son is a good kid,” Monique Whyte said. “He participates in organized sports. And I drive my son to school every morning.”

But Whyte said she wasn’t feeling well Monday morning, so she told her 16-year-old son to take the train from the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station to school.

“Why was my son beat twice,” White asked during a news conference Friday. “They threw a banana at him. They hit him in his face. He asked why. They beat him. They have pictures. They posted pictures of him on the floor. Got up, they chased him and they beat him again.”

Whyte said a group of suspects also called her son the N-word during what police believe was a racially motivated attack inside of the subway station when the teen was on his way to school.

Police said there were three to five suspects in total.

Police sources believe all the suspects who attacked the Black teen were white.

Whyte wants to know where police were, especially since there is a transit police station in the Stillwell Avenue subway station.

“A good Samaritan was on his way to work and he decided to stop because he saw this kid was being assaulted,” Rev. Kevin McCall, a local civil rights leader, said. “So he decided to stop, which he shouldn’t have to do … If the police department was present, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Clergy members who gathered with the teen’s mother during Friday’s news conference joined her in calling on the NYPD to arrest more of the people responsible and the Brooklyn district attorney to charge them all with hate crimes.

The Brooklyn DA’s office told NY1 that police arrested a 16-year-old and charged him with robbery as a hate crime and assault. He was arraigned, and the case was referred to a family court. A 14-year-old was also taken into custody.

Whyte said her son sustained head injuries and hasn’t been to school since Monday’s attack.

Clergy members also said they’re going to patrol the Stillwell Avenue subway station starting because they don’t believe it’s safe. But they’re also calling on the NYPD to step up patrols.

The NYPD has increased patrolling of stations and on trains. Mayor Eric Adams has deployed 1,000 additional officers to the system in February.