‘They bring it here!’ Man threatens, harasses, spits on Asians, Washington cops say
A man harassed and threatened several Asian residents at a park and restaurant, accusing them of bringing the coronavirus to the country, the Seattle Police Department said.
Seattle officials are investigating several anti-Asian bias incidents that were reported Saturday, according to a department news release.
In one incident, the man yelled at Asian park guests at Golden Gardens Park and chased a woman as she was driving away, police said.
“The victim was driving out of the parking lot and was stopped for traffic.” Seattle police said. “The suspect approached the victim’s driver’s side window on foot, knocked on her window and asked, ‘Where are you from…where is your ID?’ The suspect began taking photos of her car and said, ‘Chinese disease…they bring it here!’”
About 15 minutes later, police said a man ran up to a man and woman who were walking to their car. The man screamed at them aggressively and “came within a few inches of the male victim’s face,” police said.
“The suspect spit into the male victim’s face, striking his cheek,” Seattle police said. “The suspect continued to yell at the victim, ‘Where are you from?’”
In a third incident, a man entered a restaurant and “yelled racially biased remarks based on Asian heritage,” according to Seattle police.
“The suspect kicked over a stand located inside of the store, and threatened to throw a table at the victim,” police said. “The suspect then picked up the wooden door stop and threw it.”
Seattle detectives say they think all three bias incidences involved the same man. In each case, the suspect was described as a white man in his thirties with a muscular build and dark hair, police said.
Last week, a Seattle man was captured on video attacking an Asian couple, spitting on and slapping the man’s face mask, McClatchy News reported. Police said the man told the couple “it’s all your fault.”
Asian Americans have reported surges of xenophobia and racist incidents during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the ADL, an anti-hate group.
“These incidents include being told to ‘Go back to China,’ being blamed for ‘bringing the virus’ to the United States, being referred to with racial slurs, spat on, or physically assaulted,” the group said. “Statements by public officials referring to COVID-19 as the ‘Chinese virus,’ ‘Kung Flu’ or ‘Wu Flu’ may be exacerbating the scapegoating and targeting of the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community. Meanwhile, extremists continue to spread antisemitic and xenophobic conspiracies about COVID-19, blaming Jews and China for creating, spreading and profiting off the virus.”
The coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, and swept across Asia and then the world, according to McClatchy News. There have been about 84,00 confirmed coronavirus cases reported in China, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. As of Monday, there have been about 1.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases reported in the U.S and 97,000 deaths.
This story was originally published May 25, 2020 at 9:21 AM with the headline "‘They bring it here!’ Man threatens, harasses, spits on Asians, Washington cops say."