Monday evening, police said they had made an arrest of a suspect in an attack on an Asian woman on Astor Place on Sunday.
Erick Deoliveira, 27, whom police described as homeless, was charged with assault as a hate crime and criminal mischief as a hate crime.
In the incident, a 37-year old woman was walking at Astor Place and Fourth Ave. on her way to an anti-Asian violence rally, when the suspect reportedly took her sign, tried to jam it into a trash can and then stomped on it.
When the woman asked him why he did that, the man reportedly punched her twice in the face. The victim suffered a small cut and bruising to her lip and sprained her ankle as she ran after the man, videoing him after the incident. She was treated at Lenox Health Greenwich Village.
Bravo to the victim! I passed right by that spot on my way to the Peace Vigil in Union Square Park on Friday with my sign. It could have been me. I don’t know if I would have been as brave. So glad they arrested the attacker.
And I agree with Fran Luck. It all started with Trump. He opened the underbelly of hate in the U.S.
What a brave woman! Most people would just have gotten away immediately but she didn’t succumb to fear, videoed him on her cell and that led to his arrest. I believe there must be consequences for this sort of attack, but also hope that this sick individual can get some help. Of course the underlying cause of the uptick of anti-Asian violence is our xenophobic ex-president with his “China virus” crap. And let’s not forget that most of the anti-Asian attacks, including the recent Atlanta murders, are against women. Women continue to be murdered in large numbers every day and it is so normalized that it doesn’t get much notice.
Fran Luck,
Lower East Side (since the 1960s)