Police on Friday released images of an Asian man wanted for abuse, spitting on the woman and kicking the man as they prepared to board an Uber taxi in Manhattan's Koreatown district.
According to media outlets such as AM New York and CBS, the incident occurred at about 1:30 a.m. on May 23 in front of 23 West 32nd Street in Koreatown.
The Asian man and woman, both 39 years old, were getting into a waiting Uber when the suspect approached them and began hurling hateful insults at them, according to the police. Police said the man's verbal abuse showed he thought the two Asians were Chinese, the Daily News reported. But the two victims were Korean.
The man then spat on the female victim, pushed the male victim to the ground and kicked him in the legs several times, police said.
It was only when a nearby witness intervened that the man stopped and fled the scene on foot.
The incident was reported to the Central City South Precinct. The male victim suffered minor leg injuries and the female victim was not physically injured and both refused to seek medical attention at the scene.
The case has been assigned to the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force, which is leading the ongoing investigation.
Police on Friday released a photo of the suspect, who is light skinned, of medium build, with black hair and was last seen wearing a hooded shirt, blue jeans and gray shoes.
AM New York pointed out that in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, politicians and the media, including former presidents, used AsiAn-Americans as scapegoats for the spread of the virus, and there has been a surge in Asian-hate crimes across the country. In 2022, the NYPD reported 83 hate crimes against AsiAn-Americans, resulting in 67 arrests.
