The authorities arrested a homeless man with a lengthy record in connection to an unprovoked attack on an elderly Asian man.
On Saturday, 61-year-old Yao Pan Ma was brutally beaten and stomped on after a man in his 40s attacked him from behind while the senior was collecting cans to earn some extra cash.
Following the unprovoked attack in East Harlem, New York City, the elderly man ended up in the hospital where he remains in critical condition as of this writing.
Since the attack, the police arrested 49-year-old Jarrod Powell, a homeless man with a lengthy criminal history, and charged him with attempted murder for stomping on the elderly man’s head repeatedly.
It has also come to light that Powell was arrested 16 times since 1988, whereas some of his wrongdoings included kidnapping, sexual misconduct, and a series of assaults.point 421 |
He was reportedly jailed for two years from 1998 to 2000 before getting released on parole.point 76 | He ended up back in jail in 2007 following a felony assault that landed him an additional five years behind bars.point 169 | 1
In graphic footage taken at the time of Powell’s attack on Ma, the 61-year-old is seen lying helpless on the ground while the man stomps on his head several times.
After the attacker walked away as if nothing had happened, a bus driver called the police, prompting emergency responders to rush the elderly man to Harlem Hospital.
Following the assault, the victim’s 57-year-old wife, Baozhen Chen, spoke out to New York Post and dubbed her partner a “hardworking” and “innocent” man.
“I was scared. I was crying. I didn’t know what to do. Why? Why did they do this to my husband? Why did this happen? It was sudden. I didn’t expect this,” she recalled the time she heard about what had happened to her husband.
“My husband is a hard-working man. He picks up bottles to help pay the rent and the bills. He is innocent. He did not do anything wrong. He is a very kind person. He is quiet. He doesn’t cause trouble to make people mad.”
As Chen added, the attack, along with the surge of anti-Asian violence across the country and The Big Apple, has left her “cautious” and “scared” for her life.
“I’m more cautious. I’m scared that someone would jump out and attack me like what they did to my husband. I look around me,” the senior woman said.
What are your thoughts on this matter? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to SHARE this post with your family and friends. For more news and stories, follow us on Facebook!