NYPD Arrest Man Who Allegedly Hit Boy With Belt in Playground After Shouting Anti-Gay Slur

Over two months after police said a man shouted anti-gay slurs at a 12-year old boy on Manhattan’s Lower East side before striking him with a belt, a suspect has been taken into custody and charged with hate crimes.On Sunday, the NYPD arrested 37-year-old Brooklyn resident Kevin Maxwell and charged him with second-degree assault, menacing, and acting in a manner injurious to a child, as the New York Daily News reported. Public records reviewed by Them show that Maxwell was being held at the Eric. M. Taylor Center on a bail of $30,001. Later on Monday afternoon, WPIX reported that Maxwell pleaded not guilty and was bailed out at his arraignment.According to the Daily News, police said that Maxwell allegedly approached the child outside a public housing development playground on April 29 and yelled, “Are you stupid or something? You gay f**got!” According to amNY, which also reported on the incident, the boy reportedly tried to ignore the verbal abuse until the suspect left, but then the assailant returned and allegedly hit the boy with a belt. The boy — unnamed in public records, as is standard — experienced minor pain and swelling.The arrest of Maxwell follows a long search that was referred to the NYPD Hate Crimes Unit. The department released a sketch in June, soliciting information from the public.Police say that hate crimes are up in New York City this year, with amNY reporting a nearly 70% year-over-year increase in hate crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation. The arrest follows several high-profile anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime arrests and prosecutions within city limits. In June, 20-year-old Brooklyn resident Dmitriy Popov was convicted on manslaughter hate crime charges in the fatal stabbing of gay choreographer and dancer O’Shae Sibley. That same month, a Bornx resident was indicted on hate crime charges for allegedly assaulting a gay man on the L subway line, saying, “What are you looking at fucking f**got? You’re a sissy?” before pulli