A video making the rounds on social media shows a man kicking and hitting a woman wearing a face mask in the New York subway.
@TonyYsays posted the video under the heading “Chinese woman gets attacked for wearing a mask in NYC.”
A witness who goes by the Twitter handle of @X_Ginko says she clearly heard the man calling the woman a “diseased b*tch.” In the video, the woman appears to be chasing after the man as she exits the subway. The man turns around kicking and hitting her while saying “don’t f*cking touch me.” Another can be heard in the background screaming “Yo, yo,yo, yo, calm down.”
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority issued the following statement:
“The MTA has no tolerance for bias or hate-based attacks. We recently launched an anti-hate campaign to encourage victims and witnesses to report these crimes, and to encourage tolerance that should minimize such unacceptable conduct in the first place.”
However, @X_Ginko said both appeared to be at fault.
“When I exited the turnstiles, I saw that a man was talking to her. At think point, I was still wearing my headphones, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying. However, when I took off my headphones, I clearly heard the words “diseased bitch.” I also heard her asking him to go away.
“At this point, I saw this interaction I instinctively reached for my phone in case something were to happen. As I was doing this, I kept watching what was happening. The man suddenly got very close to the woman’s face. I’m not sure why. He then hit her on the head with an audible sound. At that point, I had finally gotten my phone out and started recording. I started recording right when he was walking away, hoping to get a good shot of his face so I could help report the incident if the victim wanted. What I didn’t expect was for the victim to chase after him. She was holding a glass bottle, seemingly in an attempt to attack or throw it at him. This is then the guy started attacking her. So ultimately, both parties had a fault, but the situation escalated with racial tension. I’m not sure if the woman was Asian or not, she was wearing a face mask and glasses, so I couldn’t tell. All I know is that she threw the bottle on the ground and was very antagonistic to everyone around her after the conflict. I then left the station after telling the MTA station worker to call help if needed.
“I don’t have any other material of the incident, but I can say with complete confidence that everything I’ve stated is what I recall seeing. Whether she was drunk or not, I do not know. She could have been mentally ill, could have been drunk, or she could have just had a bad day. I do not know her and therefore I don’t think it’s correct to make any decisive assumptions about her. “
According to NBC News, the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is asking witnesses to come forward.
This is the latest in a number of incidents in the United States connected to the current hysteria over the coronavirus.
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