A 61-year-old Asian American man was repeatedly kicked in the head in East Harlem shortly after 8pm on Friday, April 23, the New York Police Department said.
The victim was collecting cans when he was attacked from behind, knocked to the ground and kicked in the head.
He was taken to Harlem Hospital in a critical but stable condition, police said.
The victim identified as Yao Pan Ma, was a former restaurant worker who lost his job because of the pandemic and was collecting cans to make ends meet.
Surveillance video showed the attacker stomping on the victim's head multiple times before walking away.
The police department's hate crimes task force is investigating the attack.
Another suspected hate crime
The victim’s wife, Chen Baozhen, 57, pleaded for police to find her husband’s attacker in an interview with the New York Post.
"Please capture him as soon as possible and make him pay,” Chen said in Mandarin via a translator.
On Twitter, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio blasted the assault as “outrageous”.
“Make no mistake, we will find the perpetrator and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” de Blasio said on Saturday.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday he would direct the state hate crimes task force to offer assistance.
“I’m sickened to learn of yet another bigoted act of violence against an Asian American man,” the governor said in a statement.
“This is not who we are as New Yorkers, and we will not let these cowardly acts of hate against members of our New York family intimidate us."
Trend
This attack is the latest in a troubling rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in New York and around the country.
In March 2021, a woman who immigrated from the Philippines was assaulted near Times Square.
She was knocked to the ground and stomped on by an attacker who shouted anti-Asian slurs.
The attacker was later identified as a parolee convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago and has been arrested.
The U.S. Senate has passed legislation aimed at fighting the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The review of hate crimes will be expedited at the Justice Department.
The new legislation will provide support for local law enforcement in response to thousands of reported violent incidents in the past year.