COURIER L 10 IFE, APRIL 9-15, 2021
An Asian-American teen
was attacked. She says
the cops never came.
Vanessa Chen (left) stands with her mother, Fiona Lam. Photo by Arthur de Gaeta
BY ROSE ADAMS
A man spit on and shoved an Asian-
American teenager in Bensonhurst in
mid-March, prompting her to call the
police. But according to the victim and
an eyewitness, the cops never arrived.
“We called 911. An hour went by,
and the cops didn’t show up,” said Gina
LaDelia, who witnessed the March 14
attack. “I happened to see cops just
driving by. We fl agged them down, and
she fi led a report.”
Vanessa Chen, 16, said she was
walking near the corner of 18th Avenue
and 68th Street sometime that
afternoon when she bumped into the
mask-less assailant, who yelled at
her and spat in her face. The middleaged
man then grabbed her neck and
shoved her into the street, Chen said at
a March 29 rally about the incident.
“As I was walking away, he pushed
me from behind using his arm on my
neck,” she said. “I do believe he was
aiming for me to fall in the street,
where there were cars.”
LaDelia was passing by when she
saw the attack, she said.
“I was walking with my seven-yearold,
and we were crossing the street,
and I happened to see a guy up in the
young girl’s face,” she said during the
rally held by local state Sen. Andrew
Gounardes and Councilman Justin
Brannan. “They exchanged words,
and he literally spit in her face, a lot.”
Chen said she believes the attack
was racially motivated.
“I believe I was targeted because I’m
Asian-American, because I’m an easy
target as a minor, someone who can’t
really defend herself,” she said. “I’m
scared to think that the cops never arrived,
I’m scared to think that the guy
got away, and I’m scared to think that
someone else may get hurt by him.”
A police spokesperson contended
that cops responded to the scene after
Chen called 911, and that they fi led a
report for harassment. The attacker,
whom Chen described as a Latino man
in his 40s, has not been arrested, according
to the spokesman. The rep said
there “is no indication at this time that
this is a hate crime.”
An uphill battle
Unfortunately for victims, charging
an attack as a hate crime is no
easy task. Prosecutors must use hard
evidence to prove that a crime was racially
motivated, either by pointing to
racist symbols worn by the attacker or
to racist language and slurs used during
the attack. Because expressions
of racially-motived violence are often
less overt — and because victims don’t
always come forward — many hate
crimes go unreported.
Still, New York City has seen a
spike in anti-Asian hate crimes since
the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
larger than any other city in the country.
In 2019, only three anti-Asian hate
crimes were reported in the Five Boroughs,
compared to the 28 reported in
2020. As of March 29, fi ve anti-Asian
hate crimes in New York City have
been reported this year.
Southern Brooklyn, which is home
to a large Asian-American community,
has seen its fair share of anti-
Asian hate. Last month, a man spat on
an elderly woman named Maureen Ki
while she was walking to a senior center
near the corner of 18th Avenue and
68th Street, she said at the March 29
press conference. That same week, cops
cuffed a homeless man in Gravesend for
allegedly assaulting and shouting a racial
slur at a 62-year-old man who was
reportedly trying to stop the assailant
from bothering an elderly couple.
The vicious attacks date back to
last summer, when two teenagers set
an 89-year-old Asian woman on fi re on
77th Street and 16th Avenue on July
13. The attack spurred a large group of
protesters to demonstrate outside the
62nd Precinct after the local offi cers
declined to categorize the attack as a
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