Story at a glance
- Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been a surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans both in New York and across the country.
- The New York Police Department has stepped up efforts to combat the attacks, including deploying plainclothes officers around the city.
- One Asian officer became involved in an anti-Asian hate crime targeting a nail salon.
Another racist attack has been added to the list of more than 110 anti-Asian hate crimes reported in the United States since March 2020, this time involving a New York Police Department officer.
Sharon Williams, 50, is charged with a hate crime and criminal trespassing after allegedly physically threatening an Asian woman and yelling racist remarks at Asian workers inside Good Choice for Nails, a nail salon in New York City, on Tuesday.
“You brought the corona to this country,” she said, reported WLNY.
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Outside, Williams reportedly continued with racist statements towards an Asian person on the sidewalk and another Asian American man she reportedly called “a Chinese mother f—er” — an NYPD officer who intervened and called for backup.
Last summer, the NYPD announced the creation of a new task force dedicated to investigating mounting numbers of hate crimes against Asian Americans. As part of that effort, the department deployed plainclothes officers to Asian American communities and businesses, including the officer who stepped in, police told The Washington Post.
“The next person you target, whether it’s through speech, menacing activity, or anything else, walking along a sidewalk or a train platform, may be a plainclothes New York City police officer. So think twice,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said last week.
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