By Wilson Wong - NBC News
In the early hours of Wednesday there was an arrest for the brutal attack on a 65-year-old Asian woman, which sparked outrage after the release of a recording of the incident.
NYPD identified the suspect as
38-year-old
Brandon Elliot
, who was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, among others.
Elliot
was on life probation for
stabbing his mother to death in 2002, authorities said.
He was released from jail in November 2019, according to police.
No further details were released about the murder.
The attack on the Asian woman took place shortly before noon Monday on 43rd Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, authorities said.
[Asian community blames President Trump for the racist attacks they have suffered recently]
Police released a video showing
a man kicking
the victim
in the stomach
, causing her to fall to the ground.
The attacker then smashed the woman's head several times while uttering phrases against Asian people, the police report revealed.
In the images, at least three people are observed in the lobby of the luxury building who witnessed the violent act but limited themselves only to watching.
One of them closed the door while the attacker walked away and left the woman lying on the ground badly injured.
"
The victim suffered serious physical injuries
and was transferred by the emergency service to NYU Langone Hospital," police said in a statement.
She was discharged on Tuesday.
The Brodsky Organization, which manages the luxury apartments, said early Tuesday that it suspended building personnel who witnessed the attack and apparently did not help the assaulted woman.
[The Asian community in the US is on a state of alarm after the Atlanta spa massacre]
The company said in a statement that it
"condemns all forms of violence, racism, xenophobia
and violence against the Asian-American community."
The company added that they hope to investigate together with the union of its workers and that it was doing the proceedings to identify an "external supplier who was present during the incident, so that the appropriate measures can be taken."
They march in several cities to denounce racial hatred against Asians
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Authorities have condemned the attack
and offered harsh words for witnesses who did not try to stop the attack.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called it "absolutely disgusting and outrageous" that witnesses did not intervene.
[Hate attacks against Asian people on the rise in New York]
"I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do, you have to help your fellow New Yorker," de Blasio said Tuesday, "this is something we
all have to be part of the solution in
. We can't just stand by. crusaders watching an atrocious act happen. "
Grace Meng, a Democratic congresswoman from New York who is leading legislation to combat hate crimes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, said the video symbolized a lack of empathy for Asian Americans.
"We have gone from being invisible to being seen as subhuman," Meng tweeted, "
we just want to be seen as Americans
, like everyone else."
The incident, one of two violent attacks recently caught on camera in New York City, was the latest in a wave of crimes against Asian Americans across the country.
This month's statistics from police departments revealed that
16 major cities in the United States saw significant spikes
in hate crimes against Asians compared to last year.
[Hate crimes against the Asian community on the rise in the United States]
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, revealed that although hate crimes overall decreased 7% last year, those directed against Asians
increased almost 150%
.
New York accounted for the largest increase, going from three in 2019 to 28 in 2020, an increase of 833%.
Asian community blames President Trump for recent racist attacks
July 22, 202002: 26
President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced initiatives to address anti-Asian violence, reinstating and expanding the scope of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, which included
funding for survivors
of domestic violence and domestic violence. AAPI sexual assaults, as well as bias research.
As part of his COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, Biden will also establish a
committee to address xenophobia
against Asian Americans.
["Show more love here", a call in New York to stop hate attacks against Asians]
Judy Chu, a California Democratic representative and chair of the Congressional Asian American Caucus, said Tuesday that she was "horrified" by the attack on the 65-year-old woman in New York and that the initiatives were a step in the right direction.
"We are in the middle of a difficult period in which people are suffering the consequences of the coronavirus," Chu said, "
they are taking it out on the most vulnerable and the elderly."
"This is the kind of thing we are experiencing," he added, "an irrational blame on Asian-Americans for the coronavirus. And that is why we are coming together."