Prosecutors have indicted a man accused of stabbing an Asian man in the back with second-degree attempted murder, but have not filed any hate crime charges in a violent, unprovoked incident.
The attack took place Thursday night in Chinatown, New York, when 23-year-old Salman Muflihi allegedly ran after the 36-year-old victim, grabbed his shoulder and sank a knife into the man’s lower back.
“This case is every New Yorker’s worst nightmare,” Deputy Attorney Adam Johnson told BuzzFeed News in a statement. “To be attacked for no reason at all by a stranger with a large knife.”
Prosecutors said Muflihi walked to the district attorney’s office after the attack and told security that he “stabbed a man in the block.”
“If he dies, he dies,” Johnson said, adding the suspect told security. “He does not give a fuck.”
Authorities said Muflihi and the victim had no previous interaction before the attack.
The video obtained by ABC7 shows a man suddenly running after the unsuspecting victim. Police were also seen pulling a large kitchen knife from the crime scene in a video obtained by the news office.
The violent attack on the streets of Chinatown in New York comes as Asian communities across the country have seen a sharp increase in attacks, raising fears of violence against Asian Americans, which some advocates say are due to xenophobia and racism. be aroused.
Hate crimes against Asian Americans in New York rose from just three incidents to 28 cases in 2020, reports the New York Times, although activists say other such attacks were probably not reported or were not classified as hate crimes.
In the Bay of California, community leaders also sounded the alarm after seeing a number of violent attacks on Asian Americans in the area. Earlier this month, California police arrested a man suspected of assaulting and injuring at least three elderly Asian Americans.
In response to the number of attacks, the Asian Pacific Council for Planning and Policy Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched a program to prevent incidents of hatred, violence, harassment and intimidation. against Asians to record and track down. Americans and Pacific Islanders.
After Muflihi was arrested in connection with the stabbing on Thursday, police said the 23-year-old was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, assault on hate crime, forgery and criminal possession of a weapon. But the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has chosen not to take hate crime charges to court.
Johnson said prosecutors could file additional charges in the case if justified during the ongoing investigation.
Prosecutors said the victim in the case suffered a punctured liver and internal bleeding after being taken to a nearby hospital. Doctors had to remove a kidney and adrenaline.
“He is currently still in a critical condition in the hospital and he cannot survive,” Johnson said.