NY man charged over hate crime attack that left Chinese immigrant in coma
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NEW YORK • A man from New York City was arrested and charged with attempted murder in what the police have classified as a hate crime against a Chinese immigrant, the authorities said.
The victim, identified by the police as Mr Ma Yao Pan, 61, was attacked in the East Harlem neighbourhood of Manhattan last Friday. The assault is the latest in a spate of attacks targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the nation.
A recent report by the Centre for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino showed that crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders jumped by 145 per cent last year, even as hate crimes overall in the United States fell slightly.
Last month, a shooting spree at three spas in and around Atlanta left eight people dead, including six Asian women.
The police said that they have not ruled out charging the suspect with a hate crime.
Many Americans blame Asians for the outbreak of the coronavirus, which was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Former US president Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to Covid-19 as the "China virus" and "kung flu", rhetoric seen by some as inflaming anti-Asian sentiment.
In the New York incident, surveillance video footage released by the police last week shows Mr Ma being attacked from behind, knocked down and kicked in the head multiple times by a lone man.
The police charged Jarrod Powell, 49, who is from New York, on Tuesday with two counts of felony assault and one count of attempted murder. They have classified the attack as a hate crime but offered few other details.
It was unclear on Tuesday if Powell had an attorney. No information on bond was available, but the police said he remained in custody on Tuesday evening.
Media outlets, including the Washington Post and People magazine, reported that Mr Ma was in critical condition in a medically induced coma at Harlem Hospital. A representative for the hospital told Reuters that he could not release information on the patient.
People magazine reported that Mr Ma was a pastry chef who came to America about two years ago with his wife.
REUTERS
