A Seattle-area teenager was arrested Friday in connection with an attack on an elderly Asian couple five months ago after video footage of the incident recently surfaced online, authorities told Fox News.
The unidentified 15-year-old was taken into custody and charged with second-degree assault, the Tacoma Police Department said. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
The attack occurred on Nov. 19, 2020, as the couple was walking on a sidewalk. Video footage appears to show someone running up to the couple before throwing several punches at the man.
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A 15-year-old boy was arrested Friday in connection with an attack on an elderly Asian couple last year that was filmed, the Tacoma Police Department said.
(Tacoma Police Department )
A woman can be heard screaming.
The police department took a police report on Wednesday after the footage appeared on social media with a request for information from the public about the incident. On Thursday, the couple’s daughter saw the video and contacted authorities.
The 56-year-old man who was assaulted was not aware the attack had been recorded.
In an interview with KIRO, the CBS-affiliated television station in Seattle, the victim said in Korean that he forgives his attacker and wishes for him to learn from his actions, the station said.
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News of the arrest comes amid an increase in attacks on Asian Americans in recent months. The Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center said earlier this month that it has received nearly 3,800 firsthand accounts of hate incidents between March 19, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021.
Most recently, an Asian American woman was beaten during an assault this week in New York City.