Asian man in critical condition after Harlem attacker repeatedly kicks him in the head: report

On Saturday, CNN reported that an Asian man is in critical condition after being kicked in the head repeatedly in a suspected hate crime attack in East Harlem, New York City — and the police are asking the public for help to catch the person responsible.

"The man was approached from behind on an East Harlem corner about 8:20 p.m., struck in the back and, after falling to the ground, kicked in the head multiple times, according to the NYPD. The victim's name was not released," reported Deanna Hackney, Ray Sanchez, and Sahar Akbarzai. "The attacker got away, police said. The victim was transported with significant injuries to a hospital in Harlem."

Police have released blurry street camera footage of the man suspected to have carried out the attack.

Hate crimes against Asian-Americans, spurred in part by false conceptions about their role in spreading the COVID-19 virus to the United States, have risen precipitously, leading to advancement of a new federal bill strengthening hate crime laws. Many of these incidents have taken place in New York City, which has a large Asian-American community and was one of the first places in the nation to see a serious COVID-19 outbreak.

This year alone in New York, one Asian woman was repeatedly punched in the face in front of her young daughter while walking to an anti-hate crime protest. Another was brutally stomped on the sidewalk while security guards in the lobby of a building sat by without intervening. In another case, a woman got herself arrested because one of the Asian-American passersby she hurled abuse at happened to be an undercover NYPD officer.