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Video shows vicious attack of Asian American woman in NYC

Associated Press

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Community activists Calvin, right, and Cameron Hunt speak to reporters outside the building where an Asian American woman was assaulted, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in New York. The New York City Police Department says an Asian American woman was attacked by a man Monday afternoon who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Pedestrians walk in the Flushing neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Authorities are searching for a man who viciously attacked an Asian American woman near New York Citys Times Square are asking the public for help not only in locating the suspect but also in doing its part to disrupt further assaults. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Two New York City Police officers patrol a busy intersection on Main Street in Flushing, a largely Asian American neighborhood, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. Police have stepped up patrols across the city in the wake of Monday's vicious Times Square attack on an Asian American woman during which no bystanders intervened to help. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
New York Police Department Officer Joanna Derkacz keeps an eye on pedestrians passing her on a busy stretch of Main Street in Flushing, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. Police have stepped up patrols in the largely Asian neighborhood in the wake of Monday's vicious attack on a 65 year-old Asian woman in midtown Manhattan during which no bystanders intervened to help. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
An elderly man looks at two New York City police officers patrolling along a busy section of Main Street in Flushing, a largely Asian American neighborhood, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. A vicious attack on an Asian American woman near New York City's Times Square is drawing widespread condemnation and raising alarms about the failure of bystanders to intervene amid a rash of anti-Asian violence across the U.S. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
People cross a busy street in the shopping district of Flushing, a largely Asian American neighborhood, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in the Queens borough of New York. A rash of anti-Asian attacks across the United States in the past few weeks have led police and others to step up patrols in neighborhoods like this one. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Police officers stand at the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue as pedestrians pass them in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Police have stepped up patrols across the city in the wake of Monday's vicious Times Square attack on an Asian American woman during which no bystanders intervened to help. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Pedestrians wait to cross the street in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Authorities are searching for a man who viciously attacked an Asian American woman near New York Citys Times Square are asking the public for help not only in locating the suspect but also in doing its part to disrupt further assaults. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
A police officer hangs a sign offering a reward for information on the person who attacked an Asian American woman near the crime scene, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in New York. The New York City Police Department says an Asian American woman was attacked by a man Monday afternoon who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
This image taken from surveillance video provided by the New York City Police Department shows a person of interest in connection with an assault of an Asian American woman, Monday, March 29, 2021, in New York. The NYPD is asking for the public's assistance in identifying the man. (Courtesy of New York Police Department via AP)
This image taken from surveillance video provided by the New York City Police Department shows a person of interest, background center, assaulting an Asian American woman, on ground, Monday, March 29, 2021, in New York. The 65-year-old woman was walking in midtown Manhattan a few blocks from Times Square on Monday afternoon when a man approached her and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground, police said. The man then stomped on the woman's face several times while hurling anti-Asian sentiments at her, police said. He later casually walked away, the footage shows. (Courtesy of New York Police Department via AP)
Community activists Calvin, right, and Cameron Hunt show support for the Asian communoty outside the building where an Asian American woman was assaulted, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in New York. The New York City Police Department says an Asian American woman was attacked by a man Monday afternoon who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
This image taken from surveillance video provided by the New York City Police Department shows a person of interest in connection with an assault of an Asian American woman, Monday, March 29, 2021, in New York. The NYPD is asking for the public's assistance in identifying the man. (Courtesy of New York Police Department via AP)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., at podium left, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer are joined by community activists during a news conference on the sidewalk where an Asian American woman was attacked, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in New York. The New York City Police Department says an Asian American woman was attacked by a man Monday afternoon who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
A police officer holds a sign near the crime scene offering a reward for information on the person who attacked an Asian American woman, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in New York. The New York City Police Department says an Asian American woman was attacked by a man Monday afternoon who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Community activists Calvin, right, and Cameron Hunt speak to reporters outside the building where an Asian American woman was assaulted, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in New York. The New York City Police Department says an Asian American woman was attacked by a man Monday afternoon who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NEW YORK – A vicious attack on an Asian American woman as she walked to church near New York City’s Times Square is drawing widespread condemnation and raising alarms about the failure of bystanders to intervene amid a rash of anti-Asian violence across the U.S.

A lone assailant was seen on surveillance video late Monday morning, kicking the 65-year-old woman in the stomach, knocking her to the ground and stomping on her face, all as police say he shouted anti-Asian slurs and told her, “you don't belong here.”

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The attack happened outside an apartment building two blocks from Times Square, a bustling, heavily policed section of midtown Manhattan known as the “Crossroads of the World.”

Two workers inside the building who appeared to be security guards were seen on the video witnessing the attack but failing to come to the woman's aid. Their union said they called for help immediately. The attacker was able to casually walk away while onlookers watched, the video showed.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the video of the attack “absolutely disgusting and outrageous” and said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that witnesses did not intervene.

“I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you do, you’ve got to help your fellow New Yorker,” de Blasio said Tuesday at his daily news briefing.

“If you see someone being attacked, do whatever you can,” he said. “Make noise. Call out what’s happening. Go and try and help. Immediately call for help. Call 911. This is something where we all have to be part of the solution. We can’t just stand back and watch a heinous act happening.”

Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, said the victim “could easily have been my mother.” He too criticized the bystanders, saying their inaction was “exactly the opposite of what we need here in New York City.”

The attack comes amid a national spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, and happened just weeks after a mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent. The surge in violence has been linked in part to misplaced blame for the coronavirus and former President Donald Trump’s use of racially charged terms like “Chinese virus.”

This year in New York City there have been 33 hate crimes with an Asian victim as of Sunday, police said. There were 11 such attacks by the same time last year.

On Friday, in the same neighborhood as Monday's attack, a 65-year-old Asian American woman was accosted by a man waving an unknown object and shouting anti-Asian insults. A 48-year-old man was arrested the next day and charged with menacing. He is not suspected in Monday's attack.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called Monday's attack “horrifying and repugnant" and he ordered a state police hate crimes task force to offer its assistance to the NYPD. No arrests have been made.

The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force, which is investigating the attack, released surveillance video of the attack and photographs of the suspect Monday evening and asked anyone with information to contact the department's confidential hot line or submit tips online.

The woman attacked Monday was hospitalized with serious injuries. She was discharged Tuesday evening, a hospital spokesperson said. Her name has not been released.

According to video footage of the assault Monday, two people who appeared to be security guards walked into the frame and one of them closed the building door as the woman was on the ground.

The property developer and manager of the building, Brodsky Organization, wrote on Instagram that it was aware of the assault and said staff members who witnessed it were suspended pending an investigation.

The head of the union representing building workers disputed allegations that the door staff failed to act. He said the union has information that they called for help immediately.

“Our union is working to get further details for a more complete account, and urges the public to avoid a rush to judgment while the facts are determined,” SEIU 32BJ President Kyle Bragg said in a written statement. He condemned the attack as “yet another example of the unbridled hate and terror" against Asian Americans.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced last week that the department would increase outreach and patrols in predominantly Asian communities, including the use of undercover officers to prevent and disrupt attacks.

The neighborhood where Monday's attack occurred, Hell's Kitchen, is predominantly white, with an Asian population of less than 20%, according to city demographic data.

Shea called Monday's attack “disgusting," telling TV station NY1: “I don’t know who attacks a 65-year-old woman and leaves her on the street like that."

According to a report from Stop AAPI Hate, more than 3,795 incidents were reported to the organization from March 19, 2020, to Feb. 28. The group, which tracks incidents of discrimination, hate and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., said that number is “only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur.”

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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