
Police have arrested a man suspected of attacking an elderly Asian woman inNewYorkCity and charged him with felony assault as a hate crime, the police department said.
Police identified the suspect as Brandon Elliot, 38, who was already on lifetime parole for murdering his mother, theNewYorkPolice Department said in a statement to Reuters. Elliot was arrested and charged early on Wednesday.
The NYPD's Hate Crimes Force had been looking for the assailant since Monday afternoon, after a man punched and kicked a 65-year-old woman, knocked her to the ground and stamped at least three times on her head. He also made anti-Asian statements.
Videos posted on social media showed witnesses at the scene did not try to protect her and one man shut the door of a nearby building while the attacker casually walked away.
The police also confirmed that the victim sustained a serious physical injury.
The incident, which happened on a street in midtown Manhattan, is one among many rising hate crimes against Asian Americans. Such crimes rose by 149% in 2020 in 16 major cities compared with 2019, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.