Police are looking for a man who attacked a 75-year-old Korean woman in broad daylight in Forest Hills on Wednesday, Jan. 12.
At approximately 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday the woman was tackled in front of 116-23 Queens Boulevard for an unknown reason. The male then fled on foot, in an unknown direction, according to police. EMS responded to the location and transported the woman to an area hospital for facial and neck injuries.
A surveillance video of the individual believed to have attacked the 75-year-old woman was released by police.
The woman, a retired nuse, told ABC7NY that her left eye is swollen shut following the attack, but said she’s grateful to be alive.
City Council Member Lynn Schulman, who represents Forest Hills, released a statement on Friday, Jan. 14 saying that she is working with fellow Queens lawmakers including Congresswoman Grace Meng, Assemblymen Daniel Rosenthal and Andrew Hevesi as well as State Senator Leroy Comrie, to prevent this from happening again.
“I am horrified and appalled by the unprovoked attack on an Asian-American senior citizen in our community,” Schulman said in her statement. “My top priority will always be to ensure the safety of local residents, especially in a year when seniors and the Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community have been targeted.”
Schulman said her office is working with the 112th precinct to identify the perpetrator and bring him to justice.
Sunnyside City Councilwoman Julie Won, one of two Korean American women serving in the City Council representing Queens, said she would also follow up on the case.
“Horrifying to watch a Korean American grandmother being attacked unprovoked on #KoreanAmericanDay,” Won wrote in a tweet. “Will be reaching out @MelindaKatz @Lynn4NYC to follow up on the case. Any violence against the elderly or vulnerable is unacceptable.”
The NYPD is not investigating the incident as a hate crime.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information in regard to this 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). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are confidential.
