Suspect in Manhattan subway hammer attack charged with hate crimes, threatened to kill police: court docs

A woman accused of smashing an Asian man with a hammer at a Chelsea subway station threatened to kill NYPD officers upon her arrest, according to court documents filed Friday.

Manhattan prosecutors charged Christian Jeffers, 48, with assault as a hate crime, weapons possession, and related offenses for the attack Tuesday that landed a 29-year-old man in the ER bleeding from his head. She was ordered held on $300,000 bail.

Prosecutors said Jeffers, who identifies as a woman, threatened the cops upon her arrest Wednesday at the subway station at E. 125th St. and Lexington Ave. in Harlem.

“By the time I get out of prison, first thing I’m going to do is get a gun and try to kill as many of you as possible,” Jeffers allegedly yelled out amid her arrest, according to the criminal complaint.

The hammer attack victim was standing by the No. 2 train turnstiles at 14th St. and Seventh Ave. about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday when he and Jeffers reportedly bumped into one another, according to police.

CCTV shows Jeffers yelling at the victim before pulling out a hammer and striking him in the head, police said.

Prosecutors also charged Jeffers with robbery and petit larceny charges at her Friday arraignment for allegedly stealing ice cream from a Duane Reade on W. 111th St. and Broadway in Morningside Heights on Feb. 11.

According to prosecutors, she allegedly threw a store worker against the shelves and to the ground before hitting them in the head and fleeing the store with the stolen goods.

Jeffers has more than 50 arrests since 2007, mostly in Manhattan for turnstile jumping. In 2015, she served six years in prison for second-degree robbery before being paroled in 2021.

Her attorney could not be reached for comment.

Seven Asian American New Yorkers had been attacked in unprovoked incidents by Feb. 23 compared with three in the same time frame last year.

Last year saw 131 anti-Asian hate crimes, according to NYPD data, up from 27 the year before.