NYPD seeking suspect who allegedly punched Asian man and bit off his fingertip

The NYPD said Tuesday it is investigating yet another potential hate crime against the AAPI community after an assailant attacked a 48-year-old Asian man on Tuesday.

According to the NYPD's hate crimes division, the Asian man was punched and bitten by the assailant just before 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.

According to the NYPD, the suspect told the victim to "go back to your country" while he "repeatedly" punched the man in the face. Police also say the suspect bit the man's hand, severing the tip of one of his fingers.

According to WABC-TV in New York, the victim was transported to a local hospital following the attack, where he is stable.

"In what has now become an alarming, disgusting pattern, we have learned that yet another Asian American was attacked violently in Manhattan," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement on Tuesday. "This needs to end. I want the Asian American community to remember that we stand with them against hate. As New Yorkers we are forever proud of our diversity and we reject any cowardly attempts to divide us. Justice needs to be done and I am directing the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to offer their assistance in the investigation of this attack."

Tuesday's attack is just the latest in a disturbing trend of attacks against Asian people in New York City and across the country.

In late March, surveillance camera footage from a midtown Manhattan apartment complex captured a brutal, violent attack against an Asian woman. The video showed that security personnel in the building failed to render aid to the victim and instead closed the door to the building as she lay on the ground.

A suspect in that case, 38-year-old Brandon Elliot, was arrested a few days later. Elliot was reportedly released from prison in 2019 and on lifetime parole after he was convicted of fatally stabbing his mother in 2002.

The building owners later fired some of the security employees who failed to render aid during the incident.

A day after that incident, the NYPD said a suspect yelled anti-Asian slurs at a 44-year-old woman and her three children, spat at her and kicked her cellphone off a subway train.

In late April, a 61-year-old Chinese immigrant was knocked down from behind and kicked in the head during an attack in Harlem. Days later, 49-year-old Jarrod Powell was arrested in connection with the attack and charged with two felony counts of assault. At the time of the arrest, the victim was still in a coma.

Earlier this month, two Asian women in the city were attacked by a woman brandishing a hammer who yelled at them to remove their masks. One of those victims was struck and suffered a gash in her head.

The rise in hate incidents has caused the NYPD to take drastic measures, including stationing undercover police officers in Asian American neighborhoods. One of those undercover officers made an arrest in April when a suspect yelled a slur at him.

WNBC-TV in New York reports that through May 2, hate crimes against Asian people in New York are up 400% in 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.

Across the country, hate instances against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community have been on the rise since last year.

Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group, reported nearly 4,000 instances of hate instances against Asian Americans in the U.S. between March 2020 and February 2021 — more than 10 a day.

The rise in hate instances mirrors the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Asian Americans unjustly face blame for spreading the virus. That sentiment was further spread by former President Donald Trump, who often used racially charged terms to describe the virus.