The New York Police Department (NYPD) on Wednesday said they have arrested a suspect in an assault of a 65-year-old Asian American woman that happened on Monday.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Twitter that Brandon Elliot was arrested and charged with the assault.
Elliot was a parolee out on supervised release, Shea said.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit said in a separate tweet that Elliot was charged with a felony hate crime.
In a statement shared with The Hill, the NYPD said that Elliot, 38, was arrested at 1:10 a.m. on Wednesday. He was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault.
NBC 4 New York reported that Elliot was convicted of murdering his mother in 2002. He was on lifetime parole after being released from prison in 2019.
Video circulated by NYPD of Monday’s attack showed the woman being approached by a man outside of a building in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. He then knocks her to the ground before kicking her repeatedly. The NYPD said that he “made anti-Asian statements” as he was kicking her.
Several employees at the apartment building where the incident occurred were suspended for failing to intervene as the attack took place.
The incident occurred at a time when violence against Asian Americans has spiked amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The attack happened less than a month after a shooting at three Atlanta-area spas left eight dead, including six Asian women.