NEW YORK — New York City police are asking for the public’s help in finding a man wanted for yelling anti-Asian slurs at a 44-year-old woman and her three children, spitting at her and kicking her cellphone off a subway train.
The incident occurred on March 30, on a southbound No. 5 train headed to Times Square. Officers say the man fled on West 41st Street after the attack.
The woman was taken to a hospital in stable condition for observation.
Authorities on Saturday asked anyone with information to call New York City police, who are calling the incident a hate crime.
Know him? Please help us identify him.
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) April 4, 2021
On 3/30, on a downtown “5” train approaching Times Square, an unidentified man began yelling anti-Asian slurs at a woman and her 3️⃣ children. He then knocked the woman’s phone to the floor & kicked it off the train.
☎️ 800-577-TIPS w/ info pic.twitter.com/SrAvxzEo6K
The incident last Tuesday came just one day after surveillance camera footage from a midtown Manhattan apartment building captured a brutal, violent attack against an Asian woman. The video showed that security personnel in the building failed to render aid to the victim, and instead closed the door to the building as she lay on the ground.
A suspect in that case was arrested on Wednesday. The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Brandon Elliot, was reportedly on lifetime parole after being released from prison in 2019. He was serving time after he was convicted of fatally stabbing his mother in 2002.
The attacks come amid rising reports of hate crimes against people in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Earlier this month, eight people — including six Asian women — were killed in three separate shootings at Atlanta-area spas.
Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group, reported nearly 4,000 instances of hate instances against Asian Americans in the U.S. between March 2020 and February 2021 — more than 10 a day.
The rise in hate instances mirrors the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Asian Americans unjustly face blame for the spread of the virus. That sentiment was further spread by former President Donald Trump, who often used racially charged terms to describe the virus.
