A man has been charged with hate crimes after being suspected of carrying out random assaults in New York City. This includes an attack on a woman who posted a widely shared social media video about the incident.
A 40-year-old man named Skiboky Stora was charged by the Manhattan district attorney on Tuesday. He is accused of assaulting, stalking, and harassing strangers in a series of incidents that were described as being anti-female, anti-white, and antisemitic in nature.
In a widely covered TikTok video, one of the alleged encounters involved a victim recounting the experience of being punched in the face.
Mr. Stora has entered a plea of not guilty for all of the charges against him.
According to the Manhattan district attorney, the individual has been charged with three counts of assault in the third degree as a hate crime, one count of stalking in the third degree as a hate crime, and aggravated harassment in the second degree.
In late March, a 23-year-old woman named Halley McGookin was assaulted in Manhattan. This incident is one of the cases for which Mr. Stora is accused.
She recorded her injury in a TikTok video that has garnered over 50 million views.
“I can’t believe it, but I was just walking when out of nowhere, a man came up and punched me in the face,” she exclaimed. “I’m in so much pain right now, I can’t even speak.”
According to the district attorney’s office, Mr. Stora allegedly hit her in the head, which resulted in her falling to the ground. As a result, she experienced pain and swelling.
In a separate incident that took place in September of the previous year, Mr. Stora encountered a 17-year-old student who walked by him. It is alleged that Mr. Stora elbowed the student in the neck and made a derogatory remark, stating, “You people think you can do whatever you want.”
In October 2023, he allegedly elbowed a 37-year-old woman’s shoulder, resulting in pain and bruising.
In November 2023, he reportedly pursued and tormented a young Jewish couple after they confronted him about tearing down posters of the kidnapped Israeli hostages.
He was taken into custody on March 27th.
According to CBS News, he appeared in a New York court on Tuesday and was granted the right to act as his own legal representative.
In a statement to CBS outside the courtroom, the defendant expressed his disbelief and condemnation towards the act, stating, “It is truly despicable that someone would stoop so low, but I want to make it clear that I have never come across this woman, Ms McGookin, in my entire life.”
Mr. Stora believes that the charges filed against him are in retaliation for the lawsuit he had filed against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The court hearing for his case is scheduled for August.
In March and April, eight women were targeted in a series of unprovoked attacks, leading to the recent arrest of Daquan Armstead by the New York police.
According to a spokesperson from the New York Police Department, Mr. Armstead has been charged with hate crime/assault, attempted hate crime/assault, and aggravated harassment.
According to NBC News in late April, police figures reveal that there have been over 90 unprovoked assaults in Manhattan, with 50 of them targeting women.