NEW YORK – A man attacked an Asian American woman in broad daylight and threw her anti-Asian slurs while she was walking down a street in Midtown Manhattan, New York police said Tuesday.
The 65-year-old woman was hospitalized with serious injuries after the attacker hit, kicked and kicked in front of an apartment building on 43rd Street on Monday, police said. The building staff did not intervene, despite a union official saying they had called for help.
In a statement, the NYPD called the incident “an attack on hate crimes” and said the hate crime task force is investigating it.
Troubling surveillance video shows the woman walking past the open front doors of the building when the attacker appears in the frame, immediately kicks her and knocks her to the ground. The man kicks and stomps the woman several times before walking away.
The incident happened just before noon on Monday. NYPD published photos of the suspect Tuesday to get advice from the public about the attack.
The woman was taken to NYU Langone Hospital and was in stable condition, police said. She was released on Tuesday evening, a hospital spokesman said. Your name has not been published.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called the incident “absolutely disgusting and outrageous” and said it was “absolutely unacceptable” for witnesses not to intervene.
“I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you do, you have to help your New Yorker,” said de Blasio at a press conference on Tuesday. “If you see someone being attacked, do what you can. Make noise. Call what happens. Go try to help. Call for help immediately. Call 911 Here we all need to be part of the solution. We cannot just step back and watch a heinous act. “
Governor Andrew Cuomo called the attack “horrific and repulsive” and offered assistance to the NYPD from the State Police’s Hate Crimes Task Force.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said NY1 that the attack was “disgusting”.
“I don’t know who attacks a 65-year-old woman and leaves her on the street,” Shea said in an interview with the television station.
“This is absolutely horrific. These attacks against Asian-American New Yorkers must come to an end. Hate has no place here and we have to shout it out whenever we see it,” said city council spokesman Corey Johnson tweeted.
In one ExplanationThe Brodsky organization, the management company of the apartment building, said it had suspended employees who did not intervene in the incident pending an investigation.
“The Brodsky organization condemns all forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia and violence against the Asian-American community,” the company said.
In a statement, the union leader who represented the construction workers denied claims that they did not act, saying the workers immediately called for help.
“Our union is working to get more details for a fuller account and urges the public to avoid rush to convict while the facts are being established,” said union president Kyle Bragg.
The incident follows a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021, more than 3,795 incidents were reported to stop AAPI hatred. The organization said that number was “only a fraction of the number of actual hate incidents”.
This month, a gunman opened fire in three spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight people, mostly women of Asian origin.
After the shootings, donations to Asian-American and Pacific islander groups rose. According to an Associated Press review of an analysis by philanthropy research group Candid, approximately $ 24 million has been pledged from nearly 30 philanthropic donors.
Contributor: The Associated Press
