MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

‘Go back where you came from’: Video shows SICK Karen pepper-spraying 4 Asian women in NYC hate crime

The victims started recording the incident when the woman hurled a racist tirade, started squirting pepper spray, and yelled 'go back where you came from'

Four Asian women were pepper-sprayed by an old woman on a Manhattan street at 14th St and Ninth Ave in the Meatpacking District on Saturday, June 11. She yelled hateful slurrs at these young women and also said, "Go back where you came from." 

The victims refused medical attention at the scene, which occurred at around 6 pm. NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force, who is investigating the incident, described the suspected woman as being approximately in her 50's, 5'3" tall, 120 pounds, and was last seen wearing a multi-colored orange dress, pink scarf around her shoulders with sunglasses. According to police, the suspect was involved in a verbal altercation with four women when she pepper-sprayed them and made anti-Asian statements. "The pictured individual is Wanted for an Assault that occurred on June 11th on the corner of 9th Avenue and West 14th Street. The perpetrator made xenophobic remarks and discharged pepper spray at 4 female victims," the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force tweeted.

READ MORE

'Unsafe and scary!': Airbnb renter finds over 10 HIDDEN cameras at property during girls' trip

Where is Dylan Rounds? Search for missing 19-year-old Utah 'farmer' continues

According to ABC Channel 7, the victims, a 25-year-old woman, and her three friends, all aged 24, were hanging out when the attacker picked up an argument and started accusing them of trying to harass her. One of the victims said she told the attacker, "Like I'm sorry, I didn't intend to make you feel that way." But she continued with her hateful speech and later, pulled out a can of pepper spray.

She said, "Go back to where you came from, you don't belong here." The victim further added, "She pointed to an Asian bystander who was a man, we didn't know who he was, pointed at him and said take your (expletive) back to your country."

"We distanced ourselves, we tried to do the right thing," another victim said. "It was so painful. I couldn't open my eyes for about 30 minutes," she added.

As per the reports by ABC, these four women were not the only ones who got attacked. One of the victims later received a message from someone who said she got the same treatment from the same suspect at the same location less than an hour earlier where 3 young women including a 13-year-old girl were abused. The woman responded by saying, "She pepper-sprayed and verbally abused three people, including a 13-year-old girl. Learning that she did this to other people, including a minor? That's not ok. She needs to be caught."

"It's not like we haven't had racist remarks towards us growing up, but this was like the first time we've ever felt it to this physical extent," one of them concluded.

Anyone with any information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).