Man arrested in attack on elderly Asian American woman who passed out

A man has been arrested in connection with a brutal attack on an elderly Asian woman in White Plains, New York, police said on Friday.

Nancy Toh, 83, was spat out and punched near the Westchester Mall on Tuesday, police said. She hit the ground hard enough that she “passed out momentarily,” White Plains Police Captain James Spencer said in a statement.

Toh’s face and hip were injured and she may have suffered a concussion, he said.

She reported the attack on Wednesday, Spencer said, adding that police had focused on Glenmore Nembhard, 40, as a suspect and found him in the area on Thursday.

He was arrested and charged by the Westchester County Attorney’s Office with second degree felony with intent to cause physical injury to a person 65 years of age or older, spokesman Dan Weiller said by email.

The Westchester County Legal Aid Society, which looks after the area’s public defenders, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to prison records, Nembhard’s next court date is Wednesday.

District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah said in a statement Friday that the possibility of a hate crime was still under investigation.

“Attacks like this affect us all,” she said. “They create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that prevents us from feeling safe in our homes and communities.”

The violence came amid an explosion of attacks against Asian Americans just months after President Donald Trump’s tenure as a leader ended who has repeatedly blamed the Covid-19 pandemic on China.

President Joe Biden addressed the issue Thursday in his first prime-time speech.

“Right now, so many of them, our fellow Americans, are on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still – are still being forced to live in fear for their lives as they walk the streets. America, “he said. “It’s wrong, it’s not American, and it has to stop.”

An analysis this month by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, indicated that hate crimes targeting people of Asian descent in the 16 largest cities in the United States have increased by almost 150% in 2020.

“It was a horrific and unprovoked incident and our hearts and prayers are with the victim and his family,” White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said in a statement Friday. “We condemn acts of violence and hate and will not tolerate them in our community.”