An Asian American woman was violently assaulted on the sidewalks of Manhattan on Monday afternoon as nearby witnesses did nothing to intervene.
Surveillance cameras captured the attack on video as a man approached the 65-year-old woman just a few blocks from Times Square as she was making her way to church.
In the clip, the man can be seen kicking her in the stomach knocking her to the ground while shouting anti-Asian slurs. According to police reports, he continued punching and stomping her face while saying “(Expletive) you, you don’t belong here.”
Witnesses say one man did chase the perpetrator down the street, but the assailant reportedly pulled a knife and he got away.
DISTURBING VIDEO: 65-year-old Asian woman randomly attacked by a man on her way to church. Cops say the victim was punched and kicked until she fell to the ground as the suspect made anti-Asian statements toward her. https://t.co/Vu7JyHho4S pic.twitter.com/XIJ9Nk1ibT
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) March 30, 2021
Warning, graphic video: another angle of a 65-year-old Asian woman being brutally attacked on W 43rd st yesterday… police still looking for the attacker. The people who work in the building and did nothing to help her have been suspended. @NY1 pic.twitter.com/zrT4FICM7I
— Lindsay Tuchman (@LindsayTuchman) March 30, 2021
In the foreground of the video clip, two men who appear to be doormen or security guards inside the lobby of a building clearly see the attack as it’s happening. Only one man moved towards the woman, but it was to close the door and remain uninvolved.
Local ABC News affiliate ABC7 reports “the NYPD Asian Hate Crime Task Force said the security guard captured on video closing the door failed to render aid, and the staff in question has been suspended pending further investigation.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also called the security guard’s inaction “absolutely unacceptable.”
“I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you do, you got to help your fellow New Yorker,” de Blasio said.
A spokesman for the security guard’s service union said in a statement the building’s door staff “called for help immediately” and asked the public “to avoid a rush to judgment while the facts are determined.”
The victim was taken to a nearby hospital where she was treated for a fractured pelvis and several head injuries, according to ABC7.
During an interview with NY1, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea called the attack “very disturbing.”
“It’s really disgusting when you see the video,” he continued. “We are calling on all New Yorkers, anyone with information. We put out a pretty good picture of the individual we want to talk to, that was seen walking away. You try to make sense of it, and you can’t. I don’t know who attacks a 65-year-old woman and leaves her on the street like that.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The Police Commissioner also announced that he is upping the number of uniformed officers in predominately Asian neighborhoods.
“An attack on one group is an attack on all, and that’s the thing we have to keep enforcing here,” added Shea. “Whether it’s anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ, when New Yorkers come together and just say enough is enough, I think we are getting in the right direction.”
This new assault occurs amid an increase in violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, including the March 16 shootings at three Atlanta-area spas that killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women.
A recent report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that in America’s largest 16 cities anti-Asian hate crimes increased 150 percent in 2020.
NYPD seeking public’s help in identifying man who was caught on video repeatedly kicking 65-year-old Asian American woman as witnesses seemingly stood by. https://t.co/GjlbGXaGFZ
— ABC News (@ABC) March 30, 2021
Regarding the photo caption – Instinct Magazine is not a judge nor jury. At the time of the report the man in the photo was the ‘alleged’ assailant. Had the identification been wrong, Instinct Magazine could be sued unless the term ‘alleged’ was included. Why does that make anyone a ‘dumbass?’
“Screen capture of alleged assailant ” wtf was alleged?! the asshole clearly did it. oh but you gotta be PC so you don’t get sued huh? Dumbass
Trump did this.