MANHATTAN, New York — A racist attacker brutally beat a Filipino woman who was walking to her church in Midtown on Monday morning — as a security guard in a nearby building watched and did nothing to help, according to police and footage of the incident.
The unidentified suspect spewed anti-Asian statements as he punched and kicked the 65-year-old woman on West 43rd Street near Ninth Avenue at about 11:40 a.m., according to cops.
“F–k you, you don’t belong here,” the brute yelled at the woman, according to sources.
Video footage of the assault provided by police shows the suspect kicking the victim to the ground — then stomping her in the head several times as she was down on the sidewalk.
Several men from a nearby residential building witnessed the crime, the footage shows, but did not try to help the woman.
One of the men, who was undoing packages, watched the entire incident unfold, the footage shows. Two other witnesses — who appear to be building security — walked over to the door as the attack ended, but did not chase after the suspect.
In fact, one of those men appears to shut the building door as the attacker takes off and the victim lies helplessly, according to the video.
The building staff that witnessed the broad-daylight beatdown in Midtown have been suspended, the management company announced.
The Brodsky Organization, which manages the building, said in a statement posted to Instagram that it “condemns all forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia and violence against the Asian-American community.”
The suspect was still being sought early Tuesday morning.
A doorman at the building where the surveillance video was recorded said on Monday night that he was unaware that the attack had taken place.
The victim, who suffered a fractured pelvis, was taken to NYU Langone Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition, authorities said.
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating, police said.
“This is absolutely vile,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said in a Monday night tweet.
“My office is reaching out to the precinct and will do anything we can to be of assistance.”
Reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans have increased dramatically in the past year. Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center that tracked cases last year beginning March 19, soon after the novel coronavirus was declared a pandemic, said it received “over 2,808 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate” crimes during that time.
“These attacks against Asian-American New Yorkers must end. Hate has no place here and we must always call it out when we see it.”
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson
SOURCE: NY Post