The NYPD is investigating yet another violent attack against people of Asian descent in New York City.
According to the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, a woman attacked two Asian women with a hammer on Sunday evening near Midtown Manhattan.
WABC-TV in New York spoke to one of the victims in the attack. She claims the suspect yelled at her and her friend to “take off your f****** mask” before hitting her in the head with a hammer.
Surveillance video of the incident released by the NYPD shows that the two women were able to disarm the suspect before the suspect fled the scene.
A café owner near where the incident took place told WABC that several patrons rushed to the victims’ aid following the attack.
The victim told WABC that she suffered a gash to the side of her head. She later went to the hospital, where she received seven stitches.
"I've been here like two years and I've never faced this kind of thing," the victim told WNBC-TV.
Click here to see surveillance video from the incident. Warning: The video contains violent images that may be difficult to watch.
The NYPD is asking anyone with information about the incident to call 1-800-577-TIPS.
Sunday, May 2nd at approx 8:40 PM, at 411 W 42 St, Two Asian females, 31 and 29, were walking on the sidewalk when an unknown individual demanded they remove their masks and then struck the 31-year-old female in the head with a hammer causing a laceration. Info? ☎️1-800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/FyWWAPhJyY
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) May 3, 2021
Sunday’s attack is just the latest in a string of violence against AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) people in New York in recent weeks.
In late March, surveillance camera footage from a midtown Manhattan apartment building 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 on lifetime parole after being released from prison in 2019 after he was convicted of fatally stabbing his mother in 2002.
Some of the security employees involved in the incident were later fired.
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.
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.
Hate instances against the AAPI community people have been on the rise across the country 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 the spread of the virus. That sentiment was further spread by former President Donald Trump, who often used racially charged terms to describe the virus.
