New York City police on Tuesday arrested the suspect caught on video repeatedly kicking a 61-year-old Asian man in the head last week in East Harlem.
The victim, Yao Pan Ma, was collecting cans Friday to make money for his family, when Jarrod Powell, 49, allegedly pushed him to the ground and repeatedly stomped on his head, The New York Post reported.
According to police, the suspect hit the victim in the back, causing him to fall to the ground. Then he allegedly proceeded to kick him multiple times in the head before running off. Video tweeted out by police appears to show the brutal head stomp.
Ma reportedly sustained “significant injury,” and was in critical condition at the hospital where he is fighting for his life.
Police on Sunday released photos of the suspect.
NYPD releasing new images of suspect in East Harlem who repeatedly stomped on 61-year-old Yao Pan Ma’s head, who is now in a coma fighting to stay alive. Remember, the victim was collecting cans for money when he was attacked. #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/9wSVzmuQnt
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) April 26, 2021
The brutal assault was just one of many black-on-Asian attacks captured on video in recent months, even as Democrats continue to blame the spike in anti-Asian violence on Trump, and/or white supremacy. Just a couple of weeks ago, a Black Lives Matter activist from Seattle was charged with a hate crime after attacking three different Asian-American women within the course of a month.
Masked leftists on Sunday gathered at a park in Washington Heights in Manhattan to denounce White Supremacy amid the wave of black-on-Asian violence. Attendees waved signs with slogans such as “One People, One Cause—Fight White Supremacy,” “I am not your scapegoat,” “End White Supremacy,” Say NO! to Anti-Asian Racist Terror,” and “If you don’t like being called racist, then stop doing racist shit.”
One person held up a sign that read “If They Mess With You, They Mess With Us,” and it included—incredibly—a drawing of a black man beating a white person in a KKK hood who appeared to be unconscious.
“Racially oppressed people in the United States—colonized people—are divided by the system but we share the same interests,” said one speaker. I want to just say that there is an increase in this town of anti-Asian violence of 1,900 percent!”
Powell, who has at least 15 prior arrests dating back to 1988, has been charged with two counts of felony assault, according to the Post.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating whether Ma was targeted due to his race.
In an exclusive interview with CBS New York over the weekend, Ma’s wife, Baozhen Chen, 57, cried on camera, and said the attack has “left her sad and panicked.”
The couple, who have two children back in China, immigrated to the United States in late 2018.
Chen told CBS New York that she was worried her husband will never be able to return home. She said her husband was working as a dishwasher in a restaurant until he lost his job due to the pandemic. Ineligible for unemployment, Ma started to collect bottles and cans to raise money
“I was scared. I was crying,” Baozhen Chen, 57, said over the weekend. “I didn’t know what to do. Why? Why did they do this to my husband? Why did this happen? It was sudden. I didn’t expect this.”
A GoFundMe set up by fashion designer to help Yao Pan Ma and his family has already raised close to $400,000.