HATE-FIEND BUST
Nightmare attack on Asian woman By KEVIN SHEEHAN, LORENA MONGELLI and AMANDA WOODS
The fiend who mercilessly beat an Asian woman on a Midtown street has been arrested — as it was revealed Tuesday that he “locked eyes” with his victim before attacking her.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit said in a tweet early Wednesday that the suspect had been busted.
He was identified as Brandon Elliot, 38, of West 40th Street in Midtown, who was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, among other raps.
Meanwhile, the victim’s daughter’s boyfriend told The Post Tuesday that he came after her in the savage attack.
“She said he was walking towards her and he locked eyes with her,” said the man, who only gave his first name, Luca. “She tried to avoid him, like how people do when you walk in New York City, but he came right for her. After the first hit, she wasn’t even there. I can’t see how she got up from that.”
The 65-year-old woman had been walking in front of a luxury apartment building at 360 W. 43rd St. around 11:40 a.m. Monday when the menace yelled “F--k you, you don’t belong here!” before pummeling her as she lay helplessly on the ground, cops said.
Video footage of the assault showed the suspect stomping on the woman’s head while she was down on the sidewalk. Several area workers could be seen in the video simply watching the violence unfold without lifting a finger to help. The victim suffered a fractured pelvis and bruising on the left side of her face, Luca said.
“She described [how] she got punched and kicked once or twice, but when I saw the video I couldn’t believe how [many times],” he said. “Incredible. The guy was huge, like twice me. It’s unbelievable.
“She did not sleep all night,” Luca said, adding his girlfriend took two days off work to care for her mother.
Details of the attack surfaced as locals said the man may be a vagrant or restaurant worker. “I’ve seen him around. He’s homeless,” a building maintenance worker said. “He hangs out around 42nd Street . . . We see him out there walking up and down in the mornings. I always see him asking for money but nothing like this.”
Another maintenance worker said he believes he saw the suspect wearing a red cook’s apron and pulling a steak knife on a guy during a dispute right after the antiAsian attack. The witness, Martin Todd, said he believes the male victim may have been trying to confront the suspect over the attack on the woman.
In surveillance footage from the anti-Asian attack, a long, brightly colored red cloth hangs from around the suspect’s neck like an apron as he attacks the woman.