On July 14th, an 89-year-old Asian woman was attacked by two unidentified, covered men near 16th Avenue and 77th Street in Brooklyn, New York.
The elderly woman was later interviewed by ABC7NY, where she talked about her traumatic experience through a translator because she only spoke Cantonese. She stated that she was attacked after she left her Bensonhurst home. During the attack, one of the men slapped her in the face, making her fall on her back and causing a sharp, severe pain. Her clothes were then set on fire with a lighter or match, but fortunately she thought of rubbing her back against the walls, successfully extinguishing the flames with her quick thinking. She was also able to quickly pull up her hair to prevent further burning. The two men never spoke a word during the attack. Although she was not seriously injured, nor did she visit the hospital, there was a large scorch mark up found on the back of her shirt.
The police still have not derived the motive of the attack, as her neighbor Maria Castellano also claimed, “I just saw these two kids push her for nothing… No reason at all.” This was an appalling and absurd case of assault to an innocent Asian woman and nothing will justify that— situations like this should never happen.