Who is Teoh Ming Soon? Man pushed, punched at Manhattan subway station by stranger: 'Maybe because I'm Asian'
CHINATOWN, MANHATTAN: A construction worker named Teoh Ming Soon was the victim of an unprovoked attack. He was attacked in a subway station on Manhattan's Lower East Side around 9 pm last Tuesday, March 9, at the East Broadway F train station near Rutgers Street. The case is under investigation. The video surveillance footage of the incident was obtained by Eyewitness News which sees the assailant attack Soon after he walked past the suspect.
The clip sees Soon punched and pushed. This is followed by him being punched in the eye and elbowed in the mouth repeatedly. While there are no arrests being made, police have released a photograph of the suspect. However, details on him are scarce at the moment.
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Who is Teoh Ming Soon?
The 56-year-old is an immigrant from Malaysia and has been in the US for about 20 years. He was a victim of a violent attack and suffered non-life-threatening head injuries. He was transported via EMS in stable condition to NYC Health and Hospitals/Bellevue, where he was treated and subsequently released. According to ABC7, he said, "Too fast (the attack), I cannot remember anything. Too fast, it happened," Soon said. "I don't know. I don't know why he attacked me. Maybe because I'm Asian?" he asked.
The site also added there was no obvious motive for the attack. NYPD is investigating the incident as a hate crime. This incident adds to the string of attacks on Asians in NYC. A rally was also held outside the Manhattan District Attorney's Office last week to demand the man charged in the stabbing of an Asian man be prosecuted as a hate crime.
Talking about the incidents against Asian Americans, Mayor Bill de Blasio explained, "We can't prejudge each incident, we need the facts," he said. "But that said, there is clearly a horrible trend right now, disgusting trend in this city and in this nation of attacks on Asian Americans. Most horribly what we saw in San Francisco, (where a) man was killed just walking down the street. No provocation, no reason, just killed because he was Asian American."
The site also took opinions from the public. "It's impossible to go around the neighborhood without sensing some sort of fear," said, Jennifer Tam, the co-founder of the grassroots organization, "Welcome to Chinatown."
"And we've been feeling this way for the last year or so...I've never felt unsafe living in Chinatown until the last year, seeing what has happened to friends, to our elderly community. In normal times, I'd be going for an outdoor run, grabbing groceries, grabbing dinner, something like that," she said. "I don't that anymore."