The man who dragged a woman to her death down subway stairs in Chinatown last July and left her in a coma was finally apprehended last week in Central Park. The suspect, 53-year-old David Robinson, was taken into custody after someone spotted him after seven months of eluding law enforcement. He has been charged with murder and manslaughter.
According to the New York Daily News, Mom Than Htwe, 58, and her son, Kyaw Hein, 22, had been walking up the staircase at the Canal Street and Broadway subway station when the suspect attacked them from behind. He grabbed the son’s backpack as he and his mother tumbled down the stairs. Htwe fell into a coma from her injuries and died 11 days later.
Htwe and her family, immigrants from Myanmar, had waited for over a decade to get visas to the United States. It was their greatest wish to see their son attend college here.
An Increase in Asian Hate Crimes Over Last Year
Asian hate crimes have seen a 343 percent increase in the United States this year alone. Earlier last month, a 30-year-old Asian man was brutally beaten with sticks in another attack in Manhattan. As of the first week in November, police in New York City have reported 414 confirmed hate crimes representing a substantial increase over the same time period in 2020.
Earlier this year, the NYPD created a hate crime unit and have been trying to encourage Asians to come forward if they have been targeted, but many from other countries distrust our authorities and decline reporting these incidents.
Fear of Asian Hate Affects Many Across the Nation
A recent poll conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health found that 25 percent of Asian Americans feared that they or members of their family would be attacked due to their race or ethnicity.
Last year, the FBI recorded the highest number of hate crimes in over a decade, with 64 percent racially or ethnically motivated. But experts suggest that it is even higher since many agencies don’t share this data with the FBI. For many Asian Americans, they believe that the rhetoric from the former administration fueled the hatred and fear.
NAPABA, or the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, has partnered with the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) to create a hate crime incident toolkit providing information for victims and community organizations and leaders. The NAPABA may also be able to provide free legal guidance to you if you have been the victim of an Asian hate crime incident.
New York City takes these hate crimes very seriously. Being convicted of a hate crime on top of a conviction of another crime such as assault or homicide can increase penalties and jail time exponentially. If you have been charged with a hate crime in New York City, you are still entitled to a legal defense.
Contact the New York criminal defense firm of Arkady Bukh for a free case review today
