April 27, 2020 By Christian Murray
The police have released photos of a man who taunted a woman with racial slurs in Rego Park yesterday.
The suspect allegedly approached a 36-year-old woman in the vicinity of Wetherole and 66th Avenue at around 11:45 a.m. and made a number of anti-Asian statements pertaining to COVID-19.
The woman attempted to take photos of the suspect on her cell phone but it was slapped out of her hand. The phone fell to the pavement and shattered.
The man then fled the scene on foot westbound on Wetherole Street.
The suspect is described as white, with a salt and pepper beard and mustache. He was last seen wearing a white baseball cap, a white hooded sweater, white sweatpants and white sneakers.
The incident is part of a surge in anti-Asian attacks that have taken place since the outbreak of COVID-19. Last month, a 47-year-old man and his son were the subject of anti-Asian statement on Queens Boulevard at 70th Ave.
“You f–king Chinese,” the racist reportedly shouted at the man before pushing him in the face. “Where’s your f–king mask.”
In another incident, a 59-year-old Asian man was kicked in the back — which knocked him to the ground– by a teenager in Manhattan.
Anyone with information in regard to Sunday’s incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).