'Die By Coronavirus,'​ Says Spitting Penn Station Assailant

NEW YORK CITY — A Long Island commuter was spat at in a Penn Station bathroom by a man who called him a "Chinese f---" then told by a police officer not to bother filing a report, he says.

"I was scared, a bit embarrassed, sad and disgusted," said Abraham, 27. "I wish the police had cared."

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Abraham, who declined to give his last name, said he was in the Penn Station bathroom about 8 p.m. when suddenly he heard a sound, felt something wet on his face then turned to see a seemingly intoxicated man staring at him.

"I hope you die by the coronavirus," the man said, according to Abraham. "He was just being racist."

Abraham waited about 15 minutes before daring to leave the bathroom, then found a police officer stationed near Platform 20, he said.

But once Abraham explained what happened, the officer —whom Abraham was unable to identify as either a transit or NYPD cop — replied, "There's nothing we can do, the courts aren't really going to care," he said.

"I can't stand this,"said Abraham, who posted his story on reddit and has since contacted an attorney. "I'm not going to stay quiet. I'm going to fight."

The NYPD said it had no record of the incident and the MTA press office said they were investigating the allegations.

This is just one of several bias attacks reported in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

A 59-year-old man reported a group of teens kicked him, spit at him and told him to go back to his country in Harlem Tuesday, the same day an Asian American woman was punched by a man demanding to know, "where is your corona mask?"

Advocates are calling on the NYPD to conduct thorough investigations into the troubling trend.

"The increasing trend of anti-Asian hate incidents is extremely concerning," said CAIR-NY Litigation Director Ahmed Mohamed. "Ignorance is no excuse for bigoted and xenophobic attacks targeting Asian-Americans."

NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force reported an overall decline in hate crime in February, but at a March 5 press conference, Commissioner Dermot Shea added, "It's still to high, when you see hate crimes occurring, it's too high."

Added Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison. "We want people to report it ... I think it's under reported, to be honest."