See It: Another NYC Attack On Asian Woman Prompts Outrage

New York City NY

01 June, 2021

12:54 PM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — A video showing a woman being suddenly attacked in Chinatown added to a wave of concern about violence against Asian Americans. More than 1 million views — and counting — have been counted on the video shared by Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou. The video shows a woman walking near a restaurant when a man punches her in the face. She staggers backward before coming to rest against a wood pillar. "This just happened in my district in Chinatown," Niou wrote Monday. "He has been arrested and our precinct is investigating." This was just sent to me from my constituent. This just happened in my district in Chinatown. He has been arrested and our precinct is investigating. pic.twitter.com/sxNfCbrlza— Yuh-Line Niou (@yuhline) May 31, 2021 NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, in an appearance on NY1, said passersby helped the woman and pointed police officers toward the suspect. The man — Alexander Wright, 48, a homeless New Yorker — had a history of mental illness and arrests, according to the New York Daily News. "Arrested eight times in the last year, randomly assaulting people, setting fires," Shea said. Shea said another suspect accused of shoving an Asian woman down the stairs at a Midtown subway station also had a history of mental illness. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday he hadn't seen the video. He called for vigilance against anti-Asian violence and acknowledged frustrations that mentally unwell people keep getting released before committing such attacks. "We got more work to do in the combination of our criminal justice system and our mental health system," he said. "We've got to glue those two together better, there's no question." There have been 202 reported hate crimes in New York City this year, according to NYPD data. Many of those have been attacks on Asian New Yorkers.