Man charged with hate crimes for allegedly spitting on transgender journalist

Cops busted a 26-year-old man on hate crime charges for allegedly spitting on a transgender journalist, police said Friday.

Pablo Valle confronted Serena Daniari, who was waiting for a southbound C train, around 8 p.m. last Friday at the West 155th Street stop in Manhattan, and began asking her a series of unintelligible questions, cops said.

Daniari removed her headphones to ask Valle to repeat himself. Upon hearing her voice, he realized she was transgender.

He then spat on her and slapped her on the face, cops said.

An unidentified woman with the man, also believed to be in her 20s, slapped the 26-year-old’s iPhone out of her hand while making “derogatory remarks” when she tried to take a photo, according to cops.

The couple ran out of the station after the encounter.

Valle is charged with aggravated harassment-hate crime in the first and second degrees, police said.

No other arrests have been made.

Daniari posted an emotional video to Twitter following the assault. The video went viral –– with 2.2 million views –– sparking concern throughout the city.

The MTA announced on Monday a new campaign to encourage straphangers to report bias-motivated crimes on the subways.