Man punches Asian woman in the face in NYC’s Chinatown in hate crime

A man was arrested after video captured him punching a 55-year-old Asian woman in the face in New York City’s Chinatown on Monday, authorities said.

Alexander Wright, 48, of Manhattan, was charged with one count of assault as a hate crime, assault and criminal possession of a controlled substance in connection with the “unprovoked” attack, according to officials.

The woman was walking down Bayard Street shortly after 6pm ET when a man in the opposite direction randomly punched her in the face, causing her to fall to the ground, according to police and surveillance video that New York state Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou posted on Twitter.

The footage showed several people on the street approach the woman, who appears unconscious on the ground, as the man walks away.

The woman was taken to New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, where she was stable, police said. The identity of the victim was not immediately released by authorities.

Wright was arrested a block away from the attack and taken to Bellevue Hospital for a psychological evaluation.

Efforts to reach Wright by phone were unsuccessful Tuesday. It was unclear if he had an attorney.

The incident was the latest anti-Asian hate crime in the US this year.

An analysis of hate crime data in late April revealed that the increase in anti-Asian attacks has remained consistent.

The research, released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that hate crimes surged 169 percent when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the same time period in 2020 across 15 major cities.

A report from the center in March showed that hate crimes increased by nearly 150 percent in major cities last year.