Yet another physical attack against an Asian person took place Monday on the streets of New York City — and some of the broad-daylight violence was caught on video, WABC-TV reported.
What are the details?
Police said the victim, a 44-year-old man, was walking near Lexington Avenue and East 72nd Street around 3:20 p.m. when the suspect — who had been yelling at other pedestrians — yelled, “Don’t look at me!” and punched the man in the back of the head, the New York Post reported.
A surveillance video that WABC obtained shows the suspect following the victim — even after he walked into the street and reversed directions to avoid the attacker — and slamming him into a storefront, authorities told the paper. The suspect’s punch does not appear in the video, the Post said.
After the attacker slammed the victim into the storefront, surveillance video shows the suspect continuing to chase the victim down a sidewalk.
A second video that came from a cellphone shows the suspect on a street corner hollering and raising his arms as bystanders gather and try to prevent further attacks against the Asian man.
“I’m gonna kill somebody!” the suspect was heard yelling on the clip. “Get out of my face!”
A woman was seen on video trying to comfort the victim and asking him if he wanted her to call police.
A different woman told WABC that the suspect went after her as well and yelled about Chinese, Spanish, and white people — and asked if she wanted him to kill her.
The incident is not being treated as a hate crime, police told the Post, but authorities are asking for help in catching the suspect who’s still at large as of Tuesday morning.
Anything else?
Anti-Asian violence recently has spiked in New York City, WABC said, adding that there have been 54 verified cases so far in 2021 compared to 12 during 2020: