Search for suspect in possible hate crime assault on F train continues
NEW YORK -- The search is on for a young woman wanted for attacking two Asian women on a New York City subway.
The NYPD is investigating it as a possible hate crime.
What started off as pointing and laughing quickly turned into something more violent, and now the two victims are hoping their attacker is caught, quickly.
"My glasses got broken. I've had headache for a couple of days now because my hair was pulled and so my scalp was very tender," Sue Young said.
Young knows here physical injuries will heal, but the emotional scarring behind what happened to her last Thursday won't quickly fade away.
"It was just insult after insult after insult," Young said.
Those insults, Young said, came from a woman and her friends while all of them were riding on an F train. Police said they were making anti-ethnic references toward Young and her family, who were visiting from Nevada.
"And finally my husband felt like he needed to step in, and so he was like, 'Can you use some better words besides those?'" Young said.
Young said the girls then realized they were being recorded by another passenger, Joanna Lin, and one of them started attacking her.
"She ran over, grabbed me by the hair, threw me on the ground and started punching me several times," Lin said.
Young couldn't stand to see Lin getting attacked, so she said she got up and pushed one of the girls out of the way, and then that same teen attacked her.
The NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force has now taken over the investigation. According to the NYPD, anti-Asian hate crimes are down significantly this year, from 64 in 2022 to 30 this year.
Jo-Ann Yoo is president of the Asian American Federation, which started its "Hope Against Hate" initiative, promoting situational awareness against hate.
"I think it's so great to see so many young people, non-Asians stepping up as they understand the shared commitment we have in making sure that everybody is safe," Yoo said.
Bystanders helped the two women get to safety after the attack.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
