NEW YORK (AP) — A man has been arrested on hate crime assault charges after police say he made anti-white comments while hitting a stranger in the face on a downtown Manhattan street and attacked two other people earlier.

The New York Police Department said Saturday that 33-year-old Todd Lyons was arrested on hate crime charges in each encounter. A message has been left for an attorney who may represent him.

Officers were told that Lyons, who is black, made anti-white statements while attacking a 58-year-old man in the Chelsea neighborhood on Aug. 14.

Lyons is also accused of hitting a 64-year-old woman in the neck with a wooden stick about six blocks away and 2 ½ hours earlier, and pushing a 56-year-old man to the ground in Greenwich Village on Aug. 9.