HomeChinese AmericanFour Arrested in Altercation at NY Chinatown Market Over Facemasks
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Four Arrested in Altercation at NY Chinatown Market Over Facemasks

249 Grand Street, scene of the assault between employees and the shoppers that had no mask on May 1, 2020. Image from Google Maps

By Shirley L. Ng, AsAmNews Staff Writer

An assault at Seafood Marts in New York’s Manhattan Chinatown resulted in four arrests Friday afternoon.

According to NYPD, “Two individuals (male and female) entered the market without masks. The employees at the location approached the individuals and asked if they could put one on. Both individuals refused ,which turned the verbal dispute into a physical altercation.  The woman shopper sustained a laceration to her nose and mouth and a male employee sustained bruising to his neck and legs. “

Kutay Lewis of the Bronx is handcuffed and charged with assault.

Widely shared video of the arrests were originally posted on WeChat according to some netizens, but found their way to Facebook. The video is recorded by an unnamed woman and explains what she captured in the video in Cantonese.

“There is a lot of trouble today. The woman is trying to cause trouble. There was fighting like it was a world war with the employees and blood was shed. They were asked to wear a mask, and if they don’t wear a mask they should leave, but they started to argue and curse “F___ you Chinese people.”

Unnamed Female shopper with no mask was told to leave the market.

In the video, NYPD has two employees handcuffed while the woman can be heard on video pointing to the male employee saying, “He was the one telling me to get out, screaming at me, telling me to get out his store.”

Employees of the market are handcuffed and charged with assault.

Employees of the market, Xue Liu of Queens, Yan Liu of Brooklyn, Hsiao-Chin Chang of Manhattan and the male shopper, Kutay Lewis of the Bronx were all charged with assault.

There were no charges to the couple for not wearing a mask into the market.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. RE: 4 arrested in altercation at NY Chinatown market over facemasks: The two that entered the market with no mask on should be charged with assault.
    We don’t know if they have the virus and are trying to spread it, which constitutes assault with a deadly weapon.

    • RE: 4 arrested in altercation at NY Chinatown market over facemasks: Not a law to wear a face mask and no it’s not a criminal offense. This story sounds like something out of China today only difference is the shop owners are held accountable.

      • RE: Four Arrested in altercation at NY Chinatown market over facemasks: Wrong. It is a decree by Governor Cuomo. It has the force of law. Furthermore, the store is private property and the store owners have the right to require. Just like Costco.

      • RE: 4 arrested in altercation at NY Chinatown market over facemasks: Anyone shopping in a crowded store w/o a face mask is a deadly threat to others , we are supposed to behave responsibly- as if “we” have the virus. It’s a mandate throughout NYC and those two people w/o masks were a disgrace – and they were ignorant racists as well – they committed a hate crime which is a felony offense. The store workers were protecting themselves and the public at large by forcing these unmasked people to leave.

  2. RE: 4 arrested in altercation at NY Chinatown market over facemasks: It’s a mandate to wear face covering in public so if someone is going into a crowded place like supermarket without one, they should be charge with assault. I really don’t understand this government anymore. If you put out a mandate but no one there to enforce it, why the heck do they even bother.

  3. RE: 4 arrested in altercation at NY Chinatown market over facemasks: They were asked to wear a mask, and if they don’t wear a mask they should leave, but they started to argue and curse “F___ you Chinese people.”

    Can you imagine the ruckus if the shop owners said “F_you Black people.”?! The Black community will come out to Chinatown and protest to get the store shutdown.

    Asians better learn from the Whites and call the cops. You don’t see Whites getting in the face of these people because they know they might get hurt or arrested for defending themselves.

  4. RE: 4 arrested in altercation at NY Chinatown market over facemasks: You really can’t require people wear masks. The law is just not enforceable. Even Cuomo said as much. Especially since masks are in short supply(partially due to Chinese in American buying in bulk and sending in China) it’s really unfair to enforce such a draconian measure. Remember, this is the USA not China. You can’t just assault someone because they dont listen to you in your shop. You have to call the cops and have them assault the person for you. As soon as you lay hands on someone you go into the system. Period. You move from victim(in your mind) to aggressor.

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