Filipina punched 125 times, severely injured in NY hate attack
Surveillance video showed suspect Tammel Esco viciously attacking Filipino victim from behind. SCREENSHOT
YONKERS, New York — A 67-year-old Filipina was severely injured when a hate -driven assailant punched her 125 times and kicked her repeatedly as she tried to enter her apartment complex, Monday, March 14.
The woman suffered facial bone fractures and bleeding on the brain from the assault and is in stable condition recovering at a nearby hospital, NBC News reported.
It’s hard to watch the video of 42-year-old Tammel Esco assaulting his elderly neighbor who was reportedly well-liked by others. The attack took place inside her apartment complex.
Esco threw 125 punches and seven vicious kicks, then twice spit on the woman and used anti-Asian slurs. He was arrested charged with attempted murder as a hate crime. He is being held without bail at Westchester County Jail.
A neighbor said the victim “was very, very nice,” has two daughters. Her husband, reportedly a mailman, had passed away.
Surveillance video showed the unidentified woman trying to open the second door into the lobby when she was hit on the head from behind and fell on the lobby floor.
Video footage shows Esco punching the elderly woman 125 times, stomping on her another seven times and spitting on her as well, according to NBC News. Esco allegedly called the woman an “Asian b—-.”
A witness told CBS2 Esco walked outside and screamed incoherently at passersby after the assault. Police arrived quickly and took him into custody.
Esco has a long criminal history, CBS2 reported Monday. He has 14 arrests and multiple convictions on his record, Yonkers Police Commissioner John J. Mueller said in a statement.
In Feb. 2021, Esco pushed a woman through a plate glass window. She was not seriously hurt, but Esco was given conditional discharge and no jail time. CBS2 reported that Esco entered a five-month inpatient program for substance abuse after his arrest last year. He previously served 42 months in prison for a 2010 stabbing.
“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,” Mueller stated.
In a statement, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano called hate crimes toward Asian Americans “intolerable,” NBC News noted.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, violence toward Asian Americans has become more rampant.
President Biden signed into law the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act last May, aimed to combat the rise of anti-Asian attacks that occurred during the last two years.
