The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a man in connection to an assault that occurred on an Asian business owner in Washington, D.C.
Samuel Delwyn Thomas, 30, was arrested on aggravated assault as the police continue to look into the possibility of a hate crime, the police said, according to Fox 5.
Max Trading owner Chong Hu Lu was punched in the face twice on May 4 after he refused to remove jewelry from the case due to store policy.
Thomas allegedly yelled “F— you, Chinese people, I hate you” while punching the store owner twice and sending him to the hospital for over a dozen stitches.
The arrest comes as hate crimes against Asian Americans have gone up over the past year.
A man was arrested in New York earlier this year after allegedly punching an elderly Asian woman in the face. The woman had to be taken to the hospital and is in stable condition. Alexander Wright is facing multiple charges, including assault as a hate crime.
Lawmakers have passed legislation to target the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes that have occurred during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to change the hearts of the American people. I mean this from the bottom of my heart, hate can be given no safe harbor in America. I mean it, no safe harbor,” President Biden said when signing the bill into law. “It can’t be dismissed, like ‘Well, that’s just what happens.’”