He attacked seven Asian women in two hours, NY cops say. He’s charged with hate crimes
A man faces several hate crimes charges after attacking seven Asian women in the span of two hours, police in New York City say.
Most of the women, ages 19 to 57, were struck in the face during the sudden and separate assaults on Sunday, Feb. 27, according to a New York Police Department statement provided to McClatchy News. Two went to the hospital.
Steven Zajonc, 28, would flee after approaching and attacking the women, police said, six of which he struck with a closed fist or elbow, before he was arrested three days later on Wednesday, March 2. His address was listed as a center for the homeless population in Midtown.
“There was no prior interaction and no statements were made,” authorities noted about each of the incidents that happened on the street roughly between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
The youngest victim, a 19-year-old college student, told Pix11 News that she felt “helpless” after Zajonc assaulted her and that it was “terrible.” She got elbowed in the face, leaving a lip laceration, and was the fifth Asian woman police say Zajonic attacked, according to the statement.
It started when a 57-year-old victim was assaulted and Zajonc “struck her in the face with a closed fist,” leaving a cut lip along with redness and swelling, according to police. She was treated at a hospital.
Ten minutes later, he’s accused of striking a 25-year-old woman in the face and her arm before attacking a third victim, 21, five minutes later who was taken to the hospital with a laceration and mouth swelling, the statement said.
After another five minutes passed, police said he assaulted his fourth victim by punching the 25-year-old woman in the face.
Police say Zajonc attacked two others after the 19-year-old college student’s attack. The sixth woman was elbowed in the mouth, “suffered swelling and bleeding to the lower lip” and was treated by EMS. The final and seventh woman was shoved to the ground, leaving her minor hand injuries.
Zajonc was arrested at New York Public Library on March 2 after guards alerted police that he was there, the New York Times reported.
Police said Zajonc has been charged with seven counts of assault (hate crime), seven counts of attempted assault (hate crime), seven counts of aggravated harassment, and seven counts of harassment.
In 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes rose over 73%, according to FBI data, NBC News reported.
Since COVID-19 hit and the pandemic began in 2020, over 9,000 anti-Asian incident reports have emerged, according to Stop AAPI Hate.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 5:09 PM with the headline "He attacked seven Asian women in two hours, NY cops say. He’s charged with hate crimes."
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