Update on Aug. 9, 2023: A 16-year-old girl was charged with two counts of assault, police said. Authorities previously said the incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime, but the teen has not been charged with a hate crime.
Original story —
NEW YORK (PIX11) – Retired doctor Sue Young, her husband, and their twin 11-year-old daughters were riding a southbound F train near the West 4th Street station Thursday night when three individuals got into a dispute with the family, according to police.
Cellphone video, recorded by a bystander and released by police, shows the incident escalated into a brawl.
“The girl in the white t-shirt. She started grabbing my hair. We were grabbing each other. I buried my face to block at my daughters, saw them pin me to the ground and that’s why I have all the bruises,” Young said.
Police said one of the women made an anti-Asian remark.
The bystander who recorded the video, Lin, told PIX11 News she was hit in the head three times by one of the suspects during the incident.
“When I started to film, one of the teens decked me in the head. I know martial arts, so I knew how to deflect to take the blow and I called 911,” Lin said.
Young told PIX11 News she wants to thank the bystanders in the subway car who formed a human shield to protect her family from the attacks.
Once the train pulled into the Broadway-Lafayette Street station, police said the three suspects fled. Both Lin and Young said they hope they are caught and can get help.
“I want them to be caught, but I don’t want this to ruin their life so they can’t get a job,” Young said.
“I really hope that whatever makes them that angry; they can get help for it,” Lin said.
