A homeless man faces charges after an apparently unprovoked attack on a 55-year-old Asian woman in New York City's Chinatown.

According to USA Today,  New York Police said that Alexander Wright, 48, will be facing charges including assault, assault as a hate crime, and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

The attack on June 1 (Singapore time) was caught on camera, leaving a woman hospitalised.

Wright will undergo a psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital.

Woman attacked in public

The video of the attack circulated online showing the accused swinging his arm into the lady's face.

The lady subsequently falls backwards onto the ground and remained still as passersby came up to check on her.

This attack occured in public, with diners sitting right by the scene.

This was just sent to me from my constituent. This just happened in my district in Chinatown. He has been arrested and our precinct is investigating. pic.twitter.com/sxNfCbrlza

— Yuh-Line Niou (@yuhline) May 31, 2021

Accused pins blame on victim right after attack

Subsequent to the attack, Wright blamed the lady for the attack when being questioned by the police.

A YouTube video uploaded showed the event after the attack.

The accused, standing beside two policemen, shouted, "He hit me".

A woman standing nearby shoots back at Wright, “Nobody hit you! You hit the lady”.

“So how did I get this on me?” Wright responds as he pointed to his wrist.

Wright's existing arrest record

The arrest adds to Wright's 40 prior arrests with five, including the latest one, within the past year, New York Post reported.

He has been arrested for charges including second-degree assault, harassment and felony criminal mischief in the past year, according to the police.

In one of those cases, Wright was accused of punching a 72-year-old man in the face at a bus stop.

He also allegedly tossed hot coffee at two traffic agents on Jan 27 and was busted on May 10.

Top images via @yuhline's Twitter and Karlin Chan's YouTube video.