Hate crimes listed as ‘other’ by NYPD spike amid coronavirus-related attacks
The city has coronavirus hate-crime fever, NYPD data shows.
Crime stats released Thursday show a spike in attacks against perceived carriers of the COVID-19 bug.
The data shows there have been 23 hate crimes against victim’s whose protected category is classified as “other” so far this year — a 475-percent increase from the 4 reported over the same period last year.
The crimes are categorized that way even though a majority of victims are Asian, officials said.
“Recent Coronavirus-related incidents fall under the anti-other category as there are two motivating factors behind these crimes,” the accompanying statement said. “The victim’s race (anti-Asian) and the perception that they have the Coronavirus (anti-disability).”
“Since the outbreak, the Hate Crime Task Force has investigated 11 cases where all the victims were Asian and targeted due to discrimination based on the Coronavirus pandemic,” the statement continues.
There have been no purely “anti-Asian” or “anti-disability” hate crimes reported in 2020, the NYPD says.
On Saturday, a trio of teens blamed a 51-year-old Asian woman for coronavirus as they attacked her aboard a city bus in The Bronx, cops said.
“You caused coronavirus b—-h!” one of the hateful kids shouted, as they hit her over the head with an umbrella.
Earlier last month, cops busted Raoul Ramos, 44, for repeatedly harassing and yelling anti-Asian slurs to a 47-year-old Asian man and his 10-year-old son as they were walking in the street in Queens.
To date, the NYPD investigated 11 incidents where the victims of the hate crimes were Asian and were targets for coronavirus discrimination, and seven people have been arrested and charged in connection to those hate-crimes ranging from aggravated harassment to assault.
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