A lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York by Anthony McCoy, a Lyft driver and veteran, accusing several individuals of a hate crime following an alleged attack on January 28, 2023.
The complaint was filed on January 21, 2025, naming Gabriel Wesolowski, Eliza A. Werkheiser, and several unidentified individuals as defendants.
According to the complaint, McCoy was stopped at a red light on Sunrise Highway when two vehicles approached his car. The occupants of the vehicles allegedly threw eggs at McCoy's car while shouting racial slurs.
McCoy pursued the vehicles until they stopped at another red light, at which point he attempted to document the incident by taking photos of the cars and their license plates.
One of the vehicles then reportedly attempted to run him over before fleeing the scene. The second vehicle's occupants fled on foot after abandoning their car.
McCoy alleges that the attack was not only an assault but also a hate crime due to the racial epithets used during the incident. Despite McCoy's report to Nassau County Police, no arrests were made.
McCoy also claims that Eliza A. Werkheiser is connected to one of the vehicles involved in the attack—a 2018 Infiniti Q50 registered under her name in Florida.
The plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages amounting to $15 million for the emotional and physical distress caused by the incident. The lawsuit accuses Wesolowski and others of several offenses, including vandalism, false reporting to law enforcement, assault with intent to harm using a motor vehicle, and aiding in the commission of a hate crime.
McCoy is representing himself pro se in the case. The case has been assigned Case ID 2:25-cv-00394-EK-ST.