In a seemingly irrational response to the global coronavirus crisis, a disturbing video of a hate crime has gone viral on social media this week, showing an NYC subway car passenger spraying Febreze at an Asian man while shouting abusive at him.
According to a recent report by the New York Post, the incident in question occurred on a subway car in New York City, on an N train in Sunset Park in Brooklyn on the morning of Wednesday, March 4.
Warning: some viewers may find the following footage offensive:The alarming footage shows an irate man confronting an Asian passenger standing by the door of the carriage. The aggressor can be heard shouting: "Tell him to move! He's standing right f***ing next to me! […] Move! I asked you nicely!" before taking out the cleaning detergent and spraying him with it.
The video was later posted to Facebook by another passenger and has since been shared a number of times. One person who shared the footage to Twitter is actress American-Chinese Celia Au, who wrote: "There's not a single confirmed case of an Asian infected in NYC. Stop discriminating cause the virus definitely doesn't."
According to The Post, Police responded to a 911 call regarding the incident, but the train had already left the station by the time officers could respond.
Commenting on the footage, Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison stated: "The train was no longer there [at the station], so we were unable to take a report. We are investigating it right now. Our Hate Crimes Task Force is reviewing the incident and it’s an ongoing investigation."
It is unknown if this particular incident was racially-motivated, but there have been reports of Asian people being harassed or subject to ethnic discrimination over mounting coronavirus paranoia, and the fact that the victim was sprayed with a cleaner has led many to assume that this is yet another example of this phenomenon.
According to the Daily Mail, there have been 22 reported cases of coronavirus in the state of New York thus far, and health officials claim none of them have recently traveled to Asia.
Earlier this week, a Singaporean student currently living in London was attacked by a group of people, one of whom told him: "I don't want your coronavirus in my country".
Jonathan Mok - a 23-year-old student at University College London (UCL) - has lived in London for two years, but amid the coronavirus crisis, he has now become the victim of a horrific racist attack.
Taking to Facebook, Mok detailed how his face "exploded with blood" after he reacted to one of their comments regarding the Covid-19 outbreak in at attack, which occurred on February 24 along Oxford Street in London.
You can read Jonathon's full post can be read below:Doctors have reportedly told Jonathon that he may need surgery after suffering fractures in his face.
