A man has been arrested in connection with a brutal attack on an elderly Asian American woman in White Plains, New York, police said Friday.
Nancy Toh, 83, was spat out near the Westchester shopping center on Tuesday and punched, police said. She hit the ground hard enough that she ‘briefly’ darkened ‘, said Capt. James Spencer told White Plains police.
Toh’s face and hip were injured and she may have suffered a concussion, he said.
She reported the attack Wednesday, Spencer said, adding that police focused on Glenmore Nembhard, 40, as a suspect and found him in the area Thursday.
He was arrested and charged by Westchester County District Attorney with second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury to a person 65 years or older, spokesman Dan Weiller said in an email.
The Legal Aid Society of Westchester County, which handles public defenders for the region, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to jail records, Nembhard’s next court date is Wednesday.
District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah said in a statement Friday that the possibility of a hate crime was still being investigated.
“Attacks like these affect us all,” she said. “They create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that keeps us from feeling safe and secure in our homes and communities.”
The violence came amid an explosion of attacks on Asian Americans, just months after the end of President Donald Trump’s term as leader who repeatedly accused the Covid-19 pandemic of China.
President Joe Biden discussed the issue for the first time in his first speech on Thursday.
“Right now, so many of them, our fellow Americans, are at the forefront of this life-saving pandemic and are still being forced to live in fear for their lives, just to walk the streets of America,” he said. said. . “It’s wrong, it’s not American, and it must stop.
An analysis this month by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, showed that hate crimes against people of Asian heritage in the 16 largest cities of the U.S. increased by nearly 150 percent by 2020.
“It was a horrific and unprovoked incident and our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and the victim’s family,” White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said in a statement Friday. “We condemn acts of violence and hatred and will not tolerate them in our community.”
