NYPD Investigating Assault Outside Queens Bakery As Possible Anti-Asian Hate Crime
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman is recovering after being assaulted outside a Queens bakery.
Police are investigating this as possibly the latest in a string of recent hate crimes.
Eric Sze is outraged after yet another attack on an Asian American in New York City.
"Other than disgust, my first gut reaction was just disappointment," he told CBS2's Cory James.
Video posted to social media by the victim's daughter shows a 52-year-old woman being pushed to the ground on Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, Queens, on Tuesday.
Her daughter says the victim hit her head on a pole and was knocked out, and that she went to the hospital and got five to 10 stitches.
"How is this still going on?" Sze said.
"It's super disturbing and honestly disgusting," one man said.
CBS2 has learned from NYPD officials that in 2019, there were only three anti-Asian hate crimes reported, while in 2020, there were 29, and 24 of those were motivated by COVID-19.
Stan Mark, senior attorney for the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, believes those numbers should be even higher and that many victims do not report the incidents.
"They don't think anything is going to be done about it, and then second, if they're limited English proficient," Mark said.
While law enforcement is encouraging people to report hate crimes, Sze, a 28-year-old who owns a Taiwanese restaurant in the East Village, is also trying to help curve the rise in crimes.
He and 25 other businesses launched an initiative called Enough Is Enough last Sunday.
They are donating food to local organizations to bring awareness to attacks happening to Asian Americans.
"We want food to be the language of our love, and with the funds that we've accumulated, with any excess we're going to be donating to charities that carry on this mission beyond what we're doing," Sze said. "Love always wins, no matter what, and that's our message."
So far, Sze says they've raised about $46,000.
He tells us additional money raised in the fight against Asian-American hate crimes will go towards underserved organizations in New York City.
