The NYPD has released information about six more suspects who they say are being investigated for hate crimes against Asian victims. Seven of these are all cases in which the perpetrator allegedly used racially abusive language to demonstrate a racial motive. The seventh case is Joseph Russo, who police say demonstrated a racial motive by assaulting multiple victims, who were all Asian.
We previously published a big list of earlier suspects. We have now documented a total of 25 different suspects in anti-Asian hate crimes in New York City occurring in 2021. Most of these occurred in March and April. Some of this information comes from the NYPD on Twitter, some comes from media articles, and some from an NYPD press conference on anti-Asian hate crimes.
The NYPD launched a special task force on anti-Asian hate crimes two months ago. Since the creation of the task force, the number of people being charged with hate crimes against Asians has exploded. However, there is no reason to believe that these crimes are brand new. It is more likely that these crimes have been occurring all along, but the suspects simply were not being charged with hate crime enhancements.
April 15th:
Police say an unidentified Black male berated an Asian woman with racial abuse on a public train. The NYPD hate crimes task force is asking for the public’s help to find out who he is.
April 13th:
Police say a Black male was walking his dog when he berated a 25-year-old Asian woman with racial abuse and tried to hit her. He was arrested on April 15th. Police have not released his name. The NYPD has not released his name.
April 9th:
Julian Rodriguez, a 35-year-old Black male, was arrested inside Penn Station. He told an Asian man to “go back to China before you end up in the f@cking graveyard” and threatened to stab him in the face. The man was an undercover police officer. Rodriquez was arrested, charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime, and possession of drugs. He was immediately released on his own recognizance.
April 7th:
Police say an unidentified Black female berated an Asian woman with racial abuse and slapped her in the face. The attack was captured on surveillance video. The NYPD hate crimes task force is asking for the public’s help to find out who she is.
April 5th:
Police say Sharon Williams, a 50-year-old Black female, entered a nail salon in New York’s Chinatown. She berated employees and bystanders with racial abuse and threats. She was charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime.
April 5th:
Police say Joseph Russo pushed a 77-year-old Asian man down as he was walking down the street. Police also allege that Russo did the same thing to an elderly Asian woman last month, and also grabbed a young Asian woman from behind and pulled her hair. Russo is described as a White male by the New York City Department of Correction. He appears to be the first White person charged with an anti-Asian hate crime since the creation of the NYPD’s new task force to investigate hate crimes against Asians.
March 30th:
Police say an unidentified Black male berated an Asian woman and her three children with racial abuse on a public train. Then he knocked her phone out of her hands and kicked it off of the train. The NYPD hate crimes task force is asking for the public’s help to find out who he is.
March 26th:
Police say an unidentified Black male berated two victims with anti-Asian racial abuse. He then threatened them saying “I’ll cut you.” It took place inside a Home Depot. The NYPD hate crimes task force is asking for the public’s help to find out who he is.
