ATTACKS on Asian Americans continue to happen unabated in New York City.
This week alone, the New York City Police Department’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating a few of these hate incidents, one a brawl inside the J train going to Brooklyn, an Asian female was struck by a male who made anti-Asian statements, in the 51st St and Lexington Ave train station and a violent and senseless attack against an elderly woman that happened in broad daylight.
A 65-year-old Asian American woman was walking to church in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood on Monday morning, March 29 when the suspect assaulted her and said “f*** you, you don’t belong here,” according to the NYPD.
The victim is reportedly of Filipino descent, according to a post by ABC7 New York reporter CeFaan Kim.
Here’s another angle of the 65-year-old Asian American woman (Filipino) repeatedly kicked in her head in Hell’s Kitchen yesterday. Witness says a man chased down the assailant to confront him but the perpetrator pulled a knife. @NYPDHateCrimes is investigating. #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/g72QiDXlG1
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) March 30, 2021
The NYPD, however, could not confirm with the victim’s ethnicity with the Asian Journal and said it does not collect disaggregated data beyond “Asian.”
The brazen and unprovoked attack, which was captured by a CCTV camera, happened around 11:40 a.m. in front of a luxury apartment building on West 43rd Street.
NYPD says 65-year-old Asian American woman was walking to church this morning when suspect assaulted her and said “f*** you, you don’t belong here.” Happened in front of 360 W. 43rd St. 11:40am. Sources say building security guard not only failed to render her aid… 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ZLtQEHHJci
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) March 30, 2021
The woman was walking on the sidewalk when she was approached by the suspect who violently kicked her and knocked her to the ground. The assailant then kicked her and stomped on her face three times while hurling anti-Asian sentiments at her, police said, before he walked away.
Police arrested the suspect, identified as 38-year-old Brandon Elliot, on Tuesday, March 31. He faces charges of assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault.
The 38-year-old suspect, who was living at a hotel that serves as a homeless shelter, was convicted of stabbing his mother to death in the Bronx in 2002, when he was 19. He was released from prison in 2019 and is on lifetime parole.
The victim has been identified as Vilma Kari, who immigrated from the Philippines, according to The New York Times.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea called Monday’s attack “disgusting.”
“I don’t know who attacks a 65-year-old woman and leaves her on the street like that,” Shea said in an interview with NY1.
The building’s CCTV also caught the building’s doorman shutting the door on the helpless victim who sustained serious injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, police said.
The disturbing surveillance footage released by the NYPD has elicited some shocked and horrified reaction on social media about how the men inside the building just watched, did nothing and closed the door as the woman was on the ground.
The Brodsky Organization, developers and owners of the apartment building where the attack happened, issued a statement on Instagram condemning all forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia and violence against the Asian American community.
The company also said that “the staff who witnessed the attack have been suspended pending an investigation in conjunction with their union” and that it was working to identify a “third-party vendor present during the incident so that appropriate action can be taken.”
Help identify the below individual wanted in connection to an assault. On Monday, March 29th at 11:40 AM, at 360 West 43rd St, a female, 65, was approached by an unidentified male who punched and kicked her about the body and made anti-Asian statements. Info?☎️1-800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/LkwfYhMCLr
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) March 29, 2021
Elected city and state officials have taken to social media to condemn the vicious attack.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday called the attack “a disgusting display of both hatred and indifference.”
“We cannot allow this violence to continue. New Yorkers cannot stand by silently while a fellow New Yorker is attacked. We MUST stand together as one community to #StopAsianHate once and for all,” he posted on Twitter.
“We’ve gone from being invisible to being seen as sub-human,” said Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), reacting to the video clip posted on Twitter. “We just want to be seen as American like everyone else.”
NY City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called the attack “absolutely vile.”
“These attacks against Asian-American New Yorkers must end. Hate has no place here and we must always call it out when we see it,” he said on Twitter.
Responding to the anti-Asian slurs hurled at the woman, particularly about her not belonging here, Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) posted, “Can you join me in telling this woman that she belongs here? All AAPIs, we all belong here. #StopAsianHate”
The victim sustained serious physical injury and is currently hospitalized at NYU Langone Hospital with swelling to the face and pain in the left leg, according to the police.
esto es un gran hipocricia ……la raza negra ha dicho siempre black lives matter pero porque atacando otro raza….HIPOCRITOS DE VERDAD.. deberia ALL LIVES MATTER WHAT EVER RACE….el hombre ha atacado mi paisana es un americano negro..