AMID a surge of violence against older Asian Americans across the country, an elderly Filipina was the victim of a random attack in San Diego, California.
The Pinay senior citizen, who has not been identified, was riding a trolley when a man, unprovoked, started punching her, sources told ABC 10News.
The station said witnesses helped the victim report the attack to the police. She was later treated at a local hospital.
Police arrested a suspect, whose details were not released, for “assault with a deadly weapon with an elder abuse enhancement,” according to the news station, but the incident was not considered a hate crime.
Violent attacks against elderly Asian Americans have gone viral in the past month.
In late January, 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee, who was originally from Thailand, died from injuries after Antoine Watson, 19, knocked him to the ground while on his morning walk in the Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco. A fundraiser for Ratanapakdee’s family has raised nearly $70,000.
In early February, a Filipino American man had to receive almost 100 stitches after he was slashed across the face by another passenger on the New York City subway.
Noel Quintana, 61, was riding the L train to get to work in Harlem on February 3 when a man walked by and kicked the tote bag that Quintana had set on the train floor.
When Quintana confronted the man after he noticed his bag being kicked again, the man took out a box cutter and slashed Quintana across the face from cheek to cheek. Quintana was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
From March to December 2020, Stop AAPI Hate, an online reporting tracking anti-Asian hate incidents, received 2,808 reports of racism and discrimination targeting community members, as previously reported by the Asian Journal.
The tracking center allows individuals to report in English as well as several Asian languages like Tagalog. The website also features safety tips for those who experience or witness hate.
