SEE IT: Bronx subway feces attack suspect smiles leaving court after foulmouthed blowup at judge
The foul-mouthed and foul-tempered suspect accused of smearing feces on a woman waiting for a Bronx train was immediately arrested after a bizarre court appearance for threatening to murder a Jewish man this past September.
Defendant Frank Abrokwa, 37, was arrested late Tuesday night for the 2021 hate crime following his arraignment for the vile subway attack, with police saying the Brooklyn crime occurred Sept. 9 in Crown Heights. While Abrokwa joked with cops after his arrest in the Feb. 21 feces incident, he was considerably angrier during his first appearance in Bronx Criminal Court — swearing at the judge and referring to the subway victim as a “b—ch.”
“I’m f---ing tired of it,” snapped Abrokwa, whose rap sheet includes 44 prior arrests, when led into court. “I’m hungry. Why am I still here? They want to charge me with a hate crime.”
Abrokwa was indeed turned over to Brooklyn detectives after the hearing for the unprovoked attack on a 46-year-old Jewish man. According to cops, he called the man a “f---ing Jew,” then spit at his target before taking a swing at him.
Brooklyn investigators, who recognized the suspect after his arrest in the subway smearing, charged him with harassment and menacing as a hate crime.
Abrokwa was accused of pulling a handful of his own feces out of a plastic bag and shoving it into a 43-year-old woman’s face as she sat on a bench on the Manhattan-bound platform at the Wakefield-241st St. No. 2 train station on Feb. 21. The horrific attack was caught on video.
Assistant District Attorney Grace Phillips recounted how Abrokwa initially hit on the victim, asking “Hey, mami, hey, mami, why don’t you talk to me?” When she ignored him, he walked into an idling subway car and pooped into a bag — then returned to smear the excrement on her face, head, nose, mouth and eyes.
“You like this, b---h?” Abrokowa then asked, according to Phillips.
Abrokwa, who was released without bail in three other cases in Manhattan and the Bronx, was arrested Monday. He wore an NBA cap and a shiny silk shirt with a photo of NBA Hall of Famer Allen Iverson for his court appearance. He flashed a smile as he was led out of court by cops.
When Licitra issued an order of protection for the victim, Abrokwa piped up, “I don’t know that b---.”
“I know where I’m going already. Can I go with the Brooklyn detectives?” he added.
When the judge cautioned he should speak with his lawyer, he shot back: “Why are you disrespecting me? Why am I being mistreated by the system?”
He then hissed: “I’m talking to my attorney, f--- you, b---.”
That’s when Licitra ordered his return to a holding cell. About an hour later, a better-behaved Abrokwa returned.
While Abrokwa faced misdemeanors typically not eligible for bail under the state’s recent bail reform laws, the prosecutor tried to convince the judge he should he held on $5,000 cash or $15,000 bond, arguing the attack was part of a pattern of behavior.
But Licitra said since she didn’t have video or victim depositions to review in his other recent arrests — two in Manhattan, one in the Bronx — she didn’t have a legally sufficient reason to order him held. Abrokwa is charged with misdemeanor assault with intent to cause serious injury, as well as other misdemeanors and violations, for the fecal ambush.
Even so, Abrokwa didn’t walk out of court a free man: He was scooped up by the Brooklyn detectives who took him into custody as a suspect in the hate crime.
Abrokwa has one felony conviction and 10 misdemeanor convictions on his record, a Manhattan prosecutor noted while asking for supervised release in a recent non bail-eligible case, law enforcement sources said.
Most recently, he’s accused of repeatedly punching a 30-year-old stranger on a subway platform at 125th St. and Lenox Ave. on Jan. 7, and randomly punching a 53-year-old man at the Greyhound station at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown on Feb. 5.
On Feb. 22, he grabbed screwdrivers and pepper spray from a Bronx hardware store, then pointed a screwdriver at an employee before declaring “Call the police,” cops said.
Abrokwa was arraigned on bail-ineligible misdemeanor charges in the first two cases, and though police initially charged him with robbery in the Bronx case, he was ultimately arraigned only on menacing, petit larceny and misdemeanor weapon possession charges, court records show.
With Molly Crane-Newman
