The New York City police are in full force splashing the image of the suspect in the brutal punching and kicking of a 65-year-old Filipino-American while on her way to a church in Hell’s Kitchen in West Manhattan Monday morning (Tuesday night in Manila).
Reports indicated that the female victim was hospitalized with a fractured pelvis and contusions to her head after the suspect punched her and stomped on her head thrice.
“It’s really disgusting when you see the video. We call on all New Yorkers, anyone with information. We put out a pretty good picture of the individual that we want to talk to that we see walking away,” NYPD Officer Dermot Shea said in a media briefing on the case.
Investigators are also looking into the alleged indifference of security guards of a building who were merely watching the assault and failed to help the victim.
In a CCVT footage posted on social media, one of the security guards of the building on 360 W. 43rd St. was even seen closing the door of the building shortly after the suspect had fled the scene.
The security guards of the building that failed to provide help to the fallen victim have been reportedly suspended pending an investigation.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said the actions of the security guards merely standing by and not intervening is “absolutely unacceptable”.
“I don't care who you are, I don’t care what you do, you've got to help your fellow New Yorker,” de Blasio said in a televised press conference.
On Tuesday, United States President Joseph Biden condemned the attack against Asian-Americans anew, saying that these attacks are “wrong, un-American, and must stop.”
“We can’t be silent in the face of rising violence against Asian Americans. That’s why today I’m taking additional steps to respond-including establishing an initiative at the Department of Justice to address anti-Asian crimes,” the US president said in a tweet.
In Manila, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. was enraged when he learned about the violent incident involving the 65-year-old Filipino woman in Manhattan even as he warned that this will “influence Philippine foreign policy.”
“This is gravely noted and will influence Philippine foreign policy. I might as well say it, so no one on the other side can say, ‘We didn’t know you took racial brutality against Filipinos at all seriously’. We do,” the foreign secretary said in a tweet on Wednesday.
In a separate tweet, Locsin said the suspect was “out to kill her,” in an apparent reference to the manner how the petite and elderly victim was punched and kicked with brutal force.