Washington Teen Charged with Assault for Allegedly Attacking Asian Couple

Hate crimes against Asian-Americans have been surging over the last year with the latest news of an assault happening in Tacoma, Washington.

A 15-year-old has been arrested in connection with the attack, discovered in a video which shows the teenager allegedly assaulting an Asian couple. The clip has been making the rounds on social media, and now the suspect has been charged with second-degree assault, according to CNN.

In the footage, a person in a red top is seen running up to the man and woman on the street and hits the man while the woman cries out. It appears that a suspect also curses at the male victim, but it is uncertain if it’s the same attacker or someone else in the group.

The incident occurred on Nov. 19, 2020. Tacoma Police Public Information Officer Wendy Haddow told CNN that someone reported the incident back then, but authorities didn’t associate it with the video. The connection was only made after the victims’ family members saw their relatives in the clip.

“The family saw it on the news,” Haddow told CNN. She couldn’t comment on if the person who took the video was also an attacker. The victims didn’t personally know the suspects: ‘They had never seen them before, never dealt with them before,’” Haddow added. It will be the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office’s decision whether they will move forward with prosecuting the case as a hate crime.