By Nicole Acevedo - NBC News
New York City police are investigating whether a "gruesome attack" that left a 61-year-old Asian man in critical condition Friday night was racially motivated.
The assault occurred around 8:30 pm when a man struck the victim from behind, "causing him to fall to the ground" in East Harlem, police said Saturday.
Surveillance footage released by the New York Police Department's hate crimes task force, which is also investigating the incident, shows
the man repeatedly kicking the victim's head while on the ground
.
Emergency medical personnel took the man, who has not been identified, to a local hospital, according to authorities.
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As of Saturday afternoon, no arrests had been made.
Although authorities have not determined whether the victim was targeted because of his race, the incident comes amid a wave of racially motivated attacks on Asian Americans across the country, including one in New York City that was recorded on camera and sparked widespread outrage last month.
Vilma Kari, 65, of Filipino descent, was on her way to church on the morning of March 29 when she was attacked on West 43rd Street between 8th and 9th avenues in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, according to police.
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Authorities released a video showing a man kicking the victim in his stomach, causing him to fall to the ground.
The assailant then hit the woman's head several times while making anti-Asian comments, according to police.
Kari was treated at the hospital for a broken pelvis, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.
Brandon Elliot, 38, was charged with two counts of assault in the second degree as a hate crime and one count of attempted battery in the first degree as a hate crime in connection with the attack, according to the district attorney.
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The rise in hate crimes across the country was first seen in March and April last year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when "negative stereotypes of Asians related to the pandemic began to spread. "according to an analysis of preliminary official police data from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
Although hate crimes fell 7% last year, those targeting Asians increased by nearly 150% in 16 of the nation's largest cities in 2020, according to the analysis.
New York accounted for the largest increase in 2019 from three to 28% in 2020
, an increase of 833%.
The surge in cases prompted the US Senate to pass legislation Thursday against hate crimes against Asians.
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The bill, introduced in March by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, would direct the Justice Department to expedite the review of reported COVID-19-related hate crimes and help them establish ways to report such. online incidents and conduct public outreach activities.
It would also direct the attorney general and the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a best practice guide on how to mitigate racist language when referring to the pandemic.
