U.S. Olympian Suni Lee Pepper-Sprayed In Hate Crime Attack In LA

LOS ANGELES, CA — Gold medal Olympian Suni Lee revealed this week that she was pepper- sprayed in what she calls a racist attack last month while she was with a group of friends in Los Angeles.

The American gymnast told the PopSugar website she was waiting for a ride with friends — all of Asian descent — when a car drove by them and its inhabitants shouted racial slurs. Her attackers then hit her with pepper spray. Lee, a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars, was the first Hmong-American to represent the United States in the Olympics in Tokyo over the summer at 18. The attack came during a record year for hate crimes in Los Angeles due to a dramatic spike in attacks targeting people of Asian descent.

"I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off," Lee told PopSugar as part of a cover story on the gymnast. "I didn't do anything to them, and having the reputation, it's so hard because I didn't want to do anything that could get me into trouble. I just let it happen."

Hate crimes against Los Angeles' Asian American Pacific Islander community increased by 114% in 2020, according to LAPD data. In a move to combat the problem Friday, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Friday to explore using rewards to help obtain information leading to the arrest and conviction of people who commit hate crimes.

The Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate website reports anti- Asian incidents have been on the rise sharply in the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data compiled by Stop AAPI Hate, more than 9,000 reports of racially motivated attacks have been made from March 19, 2020, to June 2021.

City News Service contributed to this report.