Beating Of Asian Woman In Hell’s Kitchen Draws Outcry

Update, 8:30 a.m. Wednesday: a suspect, 38-year-old Brandon Elliot, has been arrested and charged with several counts of assault, including a hate crime.

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — A man punched, kicked and stomped on an Asian woman in Hell's Kitchen on Monday, a broad daylight attack that has prompted an urgent search for the suspect and drawn condemnation amid a wave of crimes against Asian Americans.

Police released video of the assault, which happened around 11:40 a.m. Monday when the 65-year-old woman was walking in front of 360 W. 43rd St. — a luxury apartment building near Ninth Avenue.

A man walked up to her and began punching and kicking her, causing her to fall to the ground. He then said "F--- you, you don't belong here," according to police.

The man continued to kick and stomp on the woman as she lay on the sidewalk, as workers inside the building lobby watched the attack unfold but failed to intervene, the footage shows.

After nearly 30 seconds, the man walked away and a building worker began to close the front door.

The woman suffered serious injuries and was taken to NYU Langone Hospital, police said.

Meanwhile, the building staff who watched the attack have been suspended pending an investigation, the Brodsky Organization, which manages the building, said on Tuesday. The company is also trying to identify a third-party vendor who witnessed the attack.

Police released surveillance photos of the suspect near where the assault took place. It is being investigated as a hate crime, and police asked anyone with information to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477).

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday called the attack "absolutely disgusting and outrageous," adding that bystanders' failure to intervene was "absolutely unacceptable."

"I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do, you've got to help your fellow New Yorkers," he said. "If you see someone being attacked, do whatever you can."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said later Tuesday that he had directed the state police Hate Crimes Task Force to help the NYPD's investigation.

The city and the nation were already reeling from a string of similar attacks on Asian Americans, from other assaults in Midtown and Harlem to the deadly Atlanta spa shootings on March 16 that killed eight people, six of whom were Asian.

This is absolutely vile. These attacks against Asian-American New Yorkers must end. Hate has no place here and we must always call it out when we see it.

My office is reaching out to the precinct and will do anything we can to be of assistance. https://t.co/8cBOniIORC
— NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson (@NYCSpeakerCoJo) March 30, 2021

So far this year, 33 hate crimes with Asian victims have been reported in New York City, three times the number recorded by this point in 2020, the Daily News reported. The group Stop AAPI Hate said more than 3,795 incidents had been reported to them from March 19, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021 — but said that number is "only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur."

"This is absolutely vile," tweeted City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose district includes the spot where the attack occurred. "Hate has no place here and we must always call it out when we see it."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.