A 13-year-old Asian American boy is the latest victim of a string of anti-Asian hate crimes in Queens after he was attacked by a group of teens on a Flushing basketball court earlier this week, police said.
On Tuesday, March 16, around 6:30 p.m., the 13-year-old was playing at Bowne Playground, located at 142-20 Barclay Ave., when he got into an argument with three other teenage boys, according to the NYPD.
After shoving the 13-year-old to the ground and the three boys took turns throwing a basketball at the young man’s head, cops said.
One of the attackers said, “Stupid f––g Chinese. Go back to your country,” according to the authorities. The three teens then ran off.
The 13-year-old, who had suffered injuries to his head during the beating, was taken to Flushing Hospital in stable condition.
No arrests have been made.
The attack is under investigation by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force.
Tuesday’s attack is the latest in an alarming trend of anti-Asian hate crimes in the borough, the city and throughout the country.
Most recently in Queens, an Asian American mother was walking near a Fresh Meadows park with her 2-year-old baby on Tuesday, March 9, when an unidentified man spit in her direction and called her the “Chinese virus.”
Nationally, the Asian American community and its allies are reeling after 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, a white man, opened fire inside three Georgia massage parlors, killing eight people, six of whom were Asian women. Long told police that the violence was not racially motived, however Korean-language media reported Long expressed anti-Asian sentiments while carrying out the attack.
