Long Island Rail Road commuter recalls unhinged racist rant directed at her by another commuters
Soraya Orelien plans to press charges: ‘He made me feel disgusting’
Soraya Orelien spoke out a day after cell phone footage of the unidentified man’s foul mouth onslaught burned up social media
Edward Ruggiero, allegedly had the racist meltdown denies being the person caught on camera
Ruggiero, 58, of Long Beach, New York, is a doppelgänger for the man was accused of berating Orelien woman, spewing racial slurs on the LIRR on April 19, 2018
The target of the vile attack said “That’s definitely him, of course he’s denying it. He’s embarrassed by it”
“The whole world saw your face. You cannot hide it,” said Orelien, who is says she plans to sue
Long Island resident Edward Ruggiero, has been identified as the alleged harasser, accused of berating a woman with racial slurs on the Long Island Rail commuter train May 4, 2018.
Long Island Rail Road commuter who was targeted in a racist rant aboard the train says she wants to make her tormentor pay for the assault.
“It’s a hate crime,” Soraya Orelien, 25, who is Black, said Friday, recalling the racist rant aboard the train. The hate-filled verbal onslaught aboard the train she says, shocked and sickened her.
She plans to press charges against her tormentor: “He needs to pay for what he’s done to me…This cannot continue to happen. It’s 2018.”
Orelien spoke out a day after cellphone footage of the man’s foul mouth onslaught burned up social media.
The Baruch College senior was riding the train on April 19, when the white man started lobbing vile verbal rockets at her because he thought she was talking too loudly into her phone.
“You’re a loudmouth monkey motherf—-r,” spewed the man who had sat down directly in front of Orelien.
“I can’t listen to your black ass no more.”
Several sources identified the hate-filled hothead as Edward Ruggiero, a Manhattan stagehand who lives in Long Beach, Long Island.
Reached outside his home, Ruggiero denied that he was the man in the video despite looking and sounding exactly like him.
“It ain’t me,” Ruggiero said.
“I’ve seen the video, yeah. A hundred guys at work have showed it to me, saying ‘Oh my god! It looks like you!”
Orelien had no doubt Ruggiero was her harasser after seeing a photo taken by a press photographer, outside the man’s house.
“That’s definitely him,” she said.
“Of course he’s denying it. He’s embarrassed by it. The whole world saw your face. You cannot hide it.”
The incident took place about 9:45 p.m. as the train rumbled toward Jamaica en route to Long Beach.
“It’s a hate crime,” saya the abuse target, Soraya Orelien
Amid his diabolical diatribe, the racist rider got overtly aggressive, getting in Orelien’s face.
“He got up and turned and said, ‘I’m gonna slap the s–t out of you,'” the victim recalled.
Orelien said she tried to keep her composure as the man spouted off. He also made monkey noises as he harassed her in a verbal assault that kept up for several minutes.
“It was a disturbing and disgusting act,” said Orelien who majors in human resource management.
“I’m glad the video is out and people can see that this is unacceptable.”
The cellphone footage captured the man getting into it with another black rider after she told him to “shut the f–k up.”
“Oh, you loudmouth b—h,” the man shot back.
“Like your mother,” she responded.
Soraya Orelien spoke out a day after cell phone footage of the unidentified man’s foul mouth onslaught burned up social media. Ruggiero insists his the man on the footage is not him
The man erupted in obscenities and racial taunts yet again.
“Do you know who your mother is?” the man shouted. “You don’t know who your mother is because you’re a f–king monkey.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it’s investigating the incident.
James Claffey, Jr., president of the powerful stagehands union, said the member outed to The News has denied being the man in the video.
“Local 1 IATSE needs to do further investigation,” Claffey said.
“At the end of the day, the behavior in that video was disgraceful and not a reflection of the honor and integrity of our members.”
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