Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday he’s “really angry” at the Muslim student who cops say lied about a bias attack on a Manhattan subway — because real victims will now be met with more skepticism.
“I am really angry at this young woman for, in effect, doing a huge disservice to everyone,” the mayor said, speaking of accused hoaxer Yasmin Seweid during his weekly call-in show on WNYC radio.
Seweid, 18, of North New Hyde Park in Nassau County on Long Island, admitted to cops Wednesday that she’d made up a story of being accosted on a subway on Dec. 1 by three white drunks who called her a terrorist, taunted, “Donald Trump!” and tried to pull off her headscarf.
The Baruch College business major told cops she’d actually been out drinking with friends and lied about the attack to distract her strict Islamic father, who’d been furious over her being out late, sources told The Post.
The mayor said, “She did a disservice to the NYPD, who put real time and energy into investigating a claim, which is another example of how diligent the NYPD is when it gets reports of hate crimes.
“She did a disservice to the taxpayers” who have to pay for the investigation, he said.
“She did a disservice to the truth and you are exactly right,” he said. “There is an obvious spike in hate crimes.
“We can’t have deniers telling us that the rhetoric of many people, including Donald Trump, didn’t lead to that. And she in effect is enabling those who say, ‘Oh, this is not a big deal,’” the mayor complained.
“So, you know, I can’t account for individual human failings, but I can say this is deeply troubling and anyone within the sound of my voice — don’t even think about making a false report because there are real consequences and now she is going to face real consequences for what she did.”
Seweid has been charged with obstructing governmental administration and filing a false report, according to a high-ranking police source.
Both charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail.