2 Black Teens Charged With Hate Crimes For Attacking White Woman On NYC Bus

New York City, New York-- Two Black girls have been arrested and charged with hate crimes for allegedly carrying out a racially motivated attack on a New York City bus.

At least three teens assaulted a white woman on board a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTS) bus on July 9 and made "anti-White" comments, the New York City Police Department said in a news release Tuesday. Detectives are working to track down the third suspect involved in the attack.

The police's Crime Stoppers hotline received a tip about the suspects after the department released their images.

The girls reportedly got into an argument with the victim and hit her in the head with an unknown object. The suspects then allegedly yelled anti-white slurs at the woman.

"I hate white people. I hate the way they talk," one of them said during the attack, CBS News reported.

The suspects then got off the bus at Woodhaven Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue and ran away. The victim suffered a laceration on her head.

The arrested girls were aged 15 and 16 years old. Both of them are facing charges of assault and aggravated harassment as hate crimes. The identities of the suspects were not revealed due to their age.

In June, a white woman was charged with hate crimes after she allegedly pepper-sprayed a group of Asian women in New York. The suspect, Madeline Barker, got into an argument with four Asian women and allegedly told them, "Go back to where you came from," and "Go back to your country!" She used anti-Asian statements against the victims before pepper-spraying them.

New York recorded a 76% rise in hate crimes than the previous year as of April, CNN reported, citing data from New York Police Department Hate Crimes Task Force (HCTF). The state has so far experienced 194 hate crimes, up from 110 cases reported during the same period last year.