The New York City police said a 16-year-old girl has been arrested after an incident last week in which she allegedly assaulted an Asian American woman and harassed her family, as well as a bystander who filmed the altercation.
The girl was arrested Tuesday night in southern Manhattan and was charged with two counts of assault, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
The suspect and two other girls were recorded appearing to berate the victim and her family on the subway, lunging at them as well as other passengers who attempted to defuse the situation. One of the individuals pulled the victim by her hair and made an “anti-ethnic remark,” the NYPD said in a statement.
New York County Defender Services indicated that they are not representing the suspect and representatives at Legal Aid were unable to inform NBC News whether the suspect is being represented by their office.
The NYPD has said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. The victim has come forward as Sue Young, a 51-year-old tourist from Nevada who was on the train with her husband and twin daughters. Young said in a statement that she was “relieved” to hear that the suspect was in police custody but she did not believe the suspect should be charged with a hate crime because race did not play a “primary role” in the attack. She did not support jail time for her, either.
“We all want her to be held accountable for her actions. Everybody deserves safety on the subway. But now the hard part begins. What is the appropriate intervention for this teen?” Young said. “We hope to come to an understanding with the other party, through a professionally mediated discussion, and we want the world to know about it.”
Young also said in the statement that she hoped to “decrease the racial tension” between the Black and Asian communities, which she feels has been worsened by the incident.
“We hope to start a discussion about how to prevent future incidents like this. We can all do…
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