MANHATTAN (AP) — An Asian American woman was attacked by a man who repeatedly kicked her as two people nearby who appeared to be security guards did not intervene, according to surveillance footage released by the New York City Police Department.
The 65-year-old woman was walking in midtown Manhattan on Monday afternoon when a man came up to her and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground, the NYPD 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.
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 NYPD says there have been 33 hate crimes with an Asian victim so far this year, news outlets reported.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called the video “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. 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.”
Video footage of the New York City assault shows two people who appeared to be security guards walking into the frame as the attack is underway. After the assailant has walked off, leaving the woman on the ground, one of the men closes the door to the street.
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 woman is currently hospitalized with serious injuries.
The NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the attack and has asked anyone with information to contact the department.
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 Tuesday on TV station NY1.
Shea recently said the agency would increase its outreach and patrols in predominantly Asian communities.
According to a report from Stop AAPI Hate over 3,795 incidents were reported to the organization from March 19, 2020, to February 28, 2021. The organization said that number is "only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur."
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