Asian woman punched 125 times in alleged New York hate crime

A man was arrested and charged with attempted murder on Monday in what police have described as a "brutal hate crime" against an Asian woman in New York last week, with video of the incident showing the woman being punched over 100 times. 

Tammel Esco, 42, was arrested and accused of calling an unnamed 67-year-old woman an “Asian b----” before following her into a building and severely beating her in Yonkers on Friday night. A witness told NBC New York that she called police when she saw Esco beating the woman.

Graphic:

A black male punched a 67-year-old woman 125 times & stomped on her head in Yonkers, NY after calling her an "Asian b—." She suffered brain bleeding & facial fractures. Tammel Esco has been charged with attempted murder & assault w/hate crime enhancements.#StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/PDMBHhg8LP

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) March 15, 2022

“I started knocking on the door, and when I did that it caught his attention, and that’s when he got off of her,” said Yvette Crespo. Shortly thereafter, police arrested him still standing outside the building.

Police announced the assailant’s arrest on Monday and released a security video from the building’s vestibule area which shows the woman was attempting to open the second door into the lobby before being hit on the head from behind and falling to the floor. Subsequently, the video shows, she was punched 125 times and later stomped and spat on.

In a statement, Yonkers Police Commissioner John J. Mueller said, “This is one of the most appalling attacks I have ever seen; to beat a helpless woman is despicable and targeting her because of her race makes it more so.”

The unidentified woman is reportedly stable and recovering in a hospital after suffering facial bone fractures and bleeding in the brain.

Esco has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime and with one count of assault as a hate crime. He was arraigned on Saturday and remains in custody at the Westchester County Jail, according to inmate records,

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano has since called hate crimes "intolerable." 

"I expect the suspect to be charged to the fullest extent of the law for his heinous actions," the mayor said. "I continue to keep the victim and her family in our thoughts and prayers.”

Many lawmakers, however, believe that criminal justice reform is an issue that must be addressed immediately and point at soft-on-crime policies as the cause of the rise in crime.

The head of the New York City Police Department said in an interview earlier this month that bail reforms that has allowed dangerous criminals back on the streets “absolutely” needs to change.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell joins other prominent New York City politicians in calling for changes to the soft-on-crime bail reform law that eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanor and non-violent felonies.

“The criminal justice reform law that took effect in 2020, I think, that is definitely part of the thinking that needs to change,” she said on “The Cats Roundtable,” a local radio show.

“There are entire categories of crime where we can make an arrest, but … the judges are legally prohibited from ever setting bail — even if the same burglar or car thief commits the same crime every day and ends up in front of the same judge,” Sewell added. “They used to have that discretion, and in many cases we don’t have that anymore.”

Backlash to the soft-on-crime bail reform law has been growing steadily in New York City amidst a crime wave and multiple hate crimes committed by criminals with lengthy arrest records.