A 68-year-old Asian woman was punched by a belligerent stranger in a random caught-on-camera attack in Nolita, police said Tuesday.
The senseless assault happened at 10:10 p.m. July 27, as the woman was foraging for cans and bottles outside a building on Mulberry St. near Broome St.
The attack is not being considered a hate crime because the assailant didn’t say anything disparaging about Asians, an NYPD spokesman said.
Surveillance video of the shocking attack shows the attacker, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, coming up behind the woman and socking her on the right side of her face — without saying a word.
He then kept walking, turning back once to glance at the victim, before continuing north on Mulberry.
The attack comes as the NYPD fights a surge of hate crimes against the Asian community.
As of Aug. 1, the NYPD had investigated 111 hate crimes against Asians this year, nearly five times more than last year, when 24 were reported, cops said.
On July 25, a bigoted stranger spat on and told an Asian woman to “speak English” during an unprovoked attack on the Upper West Side, cops said. “B—h, if you are in the U.S. you have to speak English,” the assailant yelled before storming off.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. Spanish speakers should call (888) 577-4782. All calls will be kept confidential.
