NYPD arrests man for three separate alleged hate crime attacks on Asians, and he has a lengthy criminal history



The New York Police Department arrested a man they said was responsible for three separate attacks on Asian Americans in Brooklyn, and they are charging him with hate crimes.

Police arrested Joseph Russo, 27, for an attack on a 32-year-old Asian female on March 22.

She said she was walking down a sidewalk when a man grabbed her and wrenched her by the hair. Some of the assault was caught on surveillance video. She said the assault caused her neck and head pain but she didn't seek medical help. She told police that the man said nothing to her before or during the attack, nor did he rob her, but just walked away afterward.

Russo was charged with assault as a hate crime and harassment as a hate crime.

Police believe that the man is responsible for two other attacks on Asian New Yorkers.

On Monday, a man fitting Russo's description was caught on surveillance video before allegedly knocking down a 77-year-old Asian man and walking away without saying anything. The victim suffered a bruise on his arm.

Russo was charged with aggravated harassment and assault as a hate crime in that case.

Police alleged that Russo also committed a hate crime against a 64-year-old Asian woman on March 5. That woman was shoved to the ground. He is charged with harassment and assault as a hate crime in that case.

Russo has a lengthy criminal record, according to police, with 14 prior arrests including charges of burglary, assault, public lewdness, drug possession, and criminal trespass.

Some cities are reporting a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans. New York City officials said 33 hate crimes against Asians took place through the month of March, a figure that's threefold from last year.

Many Asian Americans have responded by turning to the Second Amendment for protection against racist attacks.

Here's a local news report about the arrest:

Suspect Facing Hate Crime Charges In 3 Anti-Asian Attacks In Brooklyn, NYPD Sayswww.youtube.com

Authorities arrest suspect in connection with horrific attack on elderly woman, charge him with a felony hate crime. He was on lifetime parole.



New York City police have arrested a suspect in connection with the shocking attack on an elderly Asian woman that took place on Monday in Manhattan's Lower East Side, Newsweek reports.

What's a brief history?

Surveillance video captured the moment a suspect approached the victim, a 65-year-old Asian woman, and began beating her on the sidewalk outside an apartment building.

In the video, which quickly went viral on the internet, a suspect can be seen shoving the woman to the ground, kicking her in the stomach, and repeatedly stomping on her.

According to reports, the suspect also screamed anti-Asian slurs at her and shouted, "You don't belong here" before storming away.

The woman was taken to a local hospital for treatment of serious injuries and later released.

NYPD says 65-year-old Asian American woman was walking to church this morning when suspect assaulted her and said “… https://t.co/QEEc7OCPc9
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaan Kim)1617065525.0

What now?

Authorities identified the suspect as 38-year-old Brandon Elliot, who was taken into custody on Wednesday morning.

He was charged with assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault, and attempted assault.

Elliot, according to reports, has been on lifetime parole after being released from prison in 2019, having been convicted of murdering his own mother in 2002.

Following Elliot's arrest, the NYPD tweeted, "Thanks to assistance from the public and excellent investigative work by @NYPDHateCrimes Detectives, the individual wanted for Monday's assault of a 65-year-old Asian female, at 360 West 43rd St, was arrested and charged with Felony Assault as a Hate Crime."

Thanks to assistance from the public and excellent investigative work by @NYPDHateCrimes Detectives, the individual… https://t.co/EdXCPaJuJA
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPD Hate Crimes)1617169241.0

Anything else?

Two bystanders — apartment building employees — who witnessed the attack were suspended following criticism that they did not intervene in the attack.

The company that manages the building announced on Tuesday that two employees who witnessed the incident were suspended.

In an Instagram statement, the Brodsky Organization wrote, "The staff who witnessed the attack have been suspended pending an investigation in conjunction with their union."

Following the vicious attack, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do, you've got to help your fellow New Yorker. ... If you see someone being attacked, do whatever you can. Make noise. Call out what's happening. Go and try and help."

De Blasio added, "An elderly Asian woman walking the streets of Hell's Kitchen could easily have been my mother, because that's where we lived. So, seeing this happen in my neighborhood hit very close to home. It also was incredibly disheartening how bystanders, in this case, personnel at the building, did nothing, and apparently didn't even go to the woman's aid after it was clear that she was in distress. And this is exactly the opposite of what we need here in New York City."

Hate crime suspect arrested after Asian woman punched twice in face in front of daughter, 7. They were on way to rally against violence toward Asians.



A 27-year-old man has been arrested and charged with a hate crime in connection to a physical attack against an Asian American woman while she was on her way to a rally against violence toward Asians, New York City police told WABC-TV.

What are the details?

The station spoke to the 37-year-old victim who didn't want to give her name. She was on her way to the rally in Union Square on Sunday morning with her 7-year-old daughter when she said the suspect approached her and asked for her sign, WABC reported.

She thought he also was heading to the rally, so she gave the sign to him — after which he began to tear it up and stuff it in a trash can, she told the station. When she confronted the man, he responded by punching her twice in the face, WABC said.

Image source: WABC-TV video screenshot

"He was destroying the sign and trying to put it in the trash can, so I walked forward and toward him saying, 'What are you doing?' And he just came in front of me and punched me in the face, and then I think I stopped for a little bit, and then I chased him," the mother told WABC. "And there were some people around as well, and I just wanted to get him and call the police."

The woman's face was cut and bruised in the attack, and she also sprained her ankle, the station said, adding that she was on crutches during her interview with WABC.

What happened next?

The station said several good Samaritans ran after the man into the Astor Place subway and were able to take photos of him.

Image source: WABC-TV video screenshot

"When you see something like that happening, it is your job to make sure they are seen and being heard," witness DeVonn Francis told WABC.

Image source: WABC-TV video screenshot

Witnesses also told the station that the suspect appeared emotionally disturbed before getting away on a train.

"He also flashed people on the train platform," Francis told WABC. "He dropped his underwear and showed his genitalia to everyone on the platform."

NYPD officials said Erick Deoliveira was arrested and charged with hate crime assault and criminal mischief as a hate crime, the station reported, adding that he's homeless.

APPREHENDED and charged with a HATE CRIME. @NYPDDetectives @NYPD109Pct @NYPD9Pct https://t.co/dRBgyhxQNw
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPD Hate Crimes)1616456195.0

While shaken up following the attack, the victim told WABC that "Asians need to stay strong, but we still love this country, we still love the city, and this is our home."

Anything else?

The NYPD noted that there have been 23 anti-Asian hate crimes this year compared to 29 during all of 2020, the station said.

WABC reported that over the weekend a 66-year-old man was punched in Chinatown and a 54-year-old woman was struck in the face with a metal pipe by a man who reportedly yelled, "I came here to [expletive] up Asians." Elias Guerrero, 38, was apprehended at the scene of the latter incident and is charged with assault as a hate crime, resisting arrest, harassment, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of controlled substance, the station said.

In addition, a witness said an attacker yelled "you motherf***ing Asian" at a 68-year-old man before punching him in the face Friday on a New York City subway train.

Also a man urinated on an Asian woman aboard a Queens-bound subway train over the weekend, police told the New York Post.

Jake Tapper says national media hasn't talked about anti-Asian racism at all and gushes over Biden's 'empathy'



CNN's Jake Tapper gushed over the "empathy" of President Joe Biden in addressing anti-Asian racism and then claimed that it had not been discussed by the national media at all.

Tapper made the comments while reporting Friday on his show about a scheduled speech that Biden was to give addressing anti-Asian racism.

"At any moment we're expecting President Biden to speak," said Tapper, "after meeting with Asian-American leaders in Atlanta following the shootings that left eight people, including six women of Asian descent, dead."

Tapper was referring to a trio of shootings at massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday where the suspect claimed, according to police, that he had lashed out because of his frustration with a sex addiction.

"Biden is known for his empathy for being a good consoler in chief," Tapper continued, "this is obviously a big issue though, the pain in the Asian American community, not just from this incident, not just from the last year, but for racism that really hasn't been discussed much on national media at all!"

"That's exactly right," agreed Dana Bash. "Just by the fact that the president of the United States is going down and is shining a light on something that we've been talking a lot about, certainly this week, but as you said, Jake, has been going on to a lesser degree over the past year, is something."

Bash went on to blame anti-Asian racism on former President Donald Trump for using phrases in referring to the coronavirus that emphasized Wuhan, China, as its origin.

"And the fact that the other side of this, that culturally Asian Americans feel more emboldened to speak out about the horrible hate that they have been dealing with," said Bash, "particularly since people like President Trump have been using racial slurs to describe the COVID virus, and making people believe that people of Asian descent are somehow responsible for this, it's just, it's ridiculous."

Recent incidents of violence and hatred against Asian Americans have been frequently highlighted in the national media, especially by those trying to tie the attacks to rhetoric used by the former president.

Here's the video of Tapper's comments:

Add New Yorker’s report of Cuomo’s taxpayer-funded smear of accuser to growing list of scandals @DanaBashCNN… https://t.co/1G8PREyVD8
— The Lead CNN (@The Lead CNN)1616189559.0