Asian woman struck with hammer in NYC plans to return to Taiwan
The Asian woman who was bludgeoned with a hammer in an unprovoked Hell’s Kitchen attack said she plans to return to Taiwan — until New York City is safe again, according to a new report.
The 31-year-old woman, a recent FIT graduate who only wanted to be identified by her first name, Theresa, recalled the harrowing moment she was attacked while walking with a friend around 8:40 p.m. Sunday.
“[The suspect] was talking to herself, like talking to a wall,” Theresa told ABC New York. “I thought maybe she was drunk or something, so we just wanted to pass through her quickly and when I passed through her, she saw us and said, ‘Take off your f–king mask,’ which is shocking. Suddenly. I felt my head get hit by something.”
Theresa said she and a friend were walking to the subway — believing it would be safer to go together — when she was attacked on West 42nd Street near Ninth Avenue.
The suspect swung a hammer at the victim, smashing her on the left side of the face, according to police.
Theresa — who moved to New York in 2019 to earn her master’s degree at FIT — told the network she attempted to defend herself, but when she touched her head, she discovered she was bleeding.
She and her friend managed to disarm the suspect, and the hammer was recovered at the scene. The perp, however, is still on the loose.
The victim now plans to move back to Taiwan, but is open to returning to the Big Apple if the right job comes along — and when it is safe again, according to the network.
“I just wish everyone could stop this violence,” she said.
Theresa, who stayed with her parents in Taiwan to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, said her mother warned her of the rise in anti-Asian violence across the country.
“My mom actually told me, ‘Please be careful, there’s a lot of Asian crime happening in America,'” said the victim, who returned to New York last month to look for work in exhibition design.
Nearby cafe owner Steve Olsen told ABC “there was blood all over the place” after the shocking attack.
The victim was carrying a bottle of wine before she was assaulted — and dropped it during the vicious assault, the outlet reported.
The blood has since been cleaned up, but the wine stained the sidewalk.
The incident, which is being investigated as a hate crime, comes amid a recent spate of crimes against Asian victims across the city and elsewhere.
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