A 65-year-old Asian American woman was physically and verbally attacked by an unidentified man in midtown Manhattan on Monday, in an incident police …
A 65-year-old Asian American woman was physically and verbally attacked by an unidentified man in midtown Manhattan on Monday, in an incident police say they are investigating as a hate crime. Apartment building surveillance video of the assault, which appears to show security guards failing to intervene and then closing the door on the woman, has drawn horror and fury across social media. The incident comes amidst a dramatic rise in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans, and is not the only high-profile attack to have taken place in New York City in recent days — or on Monday alone. At a daily briefing on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the video « absolutely disgusting and outrageous, » and urged New Yorkers to take a more active role in combating anti-Asian hate. « This is something where we all have to be part of the solution, » he said. « We can’t just stand back and watch a heinous act happening. » The assault took place just before noon on West 43rd Street, the New York City Police Department said in a tweet accompanied by the surveillance footage. The graphic video shows a man approaching the woman, kicking her aggressively to the sidewalk, stomping on her head and upper body three times and slowly walking away. Meanwhile, a worker is seen standing in the apartment building’s entrance and watching the attack in its entirety. As the woman tries to get up from the sidewalk, two other personnel enter the camera’s frame and one of them moves to shut the door. The video does not capture sound, but police said the suspect « made anti-Asian statements » as he kicked the woman. CeFaan Kim, a reporter for Channel 7 Eyewitness News, wrote on Twitter that the man had said « F*** you, you don’t belong here. » He said that the woman, who was on her way to church at the time, was hospitalized with swelling to the face and pain in her left leg.
