Detectives picked up a Brooklyn woman Tuesday on charges that she berated and slapped a woman in Chinatown in a brazen act of hate.
Cheyenne Taylor, 29, of Freeport Loop was booked on April 20 on a charge of aggravated assault as a hate crime for the April 7 incident at a sidewalk café on Grand Street.
The incident was just one in a series of anti-Asian hate crimes that have rocked the city in recent months.
Law enforcement sources said Taylor approached the 25-year-old victim at about 7:36 p.m. on April 7 as the young woman sat with a friend at the sidewalk café. Cops said Taylor allegedly spewed a number of anti-Asian statements, then slapped the 25-year-old woman in the face.
The confrontation was captured by a nearby security camera.
Following the attack, cops said, the suspect took off from the scene in an unknown direction.
The incident was reported to the 5th Precinct, and the case later referred to the NYPD Hate Crimes Bureau. The victim suffered minor physical injury and refused medical attention at the scene.
Hate crimes against Asian New Yorkers have surged in recent weeks. During the month of March, the NYPD reported 31 bias crimes targeting Asian residents; by comparison, there were none during the same period a year prior.
Earlier this week, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced the formation of a new civilian panel aimed at helping the NYPD investigate hate crime cases and help bring the perpetrators to justice.
