Woman arrested for making anti-Asian remarks, pepper spraying 4 people in New York
- Madeline Barker was charged with hate crimes over the June 11 attack in which she pepper-sprayed four Asian women
- Hate crimes against Asian-Americans have been on the rise, with nearly 11,000 incidents occurring between March 2020 and December 2021
A woman who allegedly made anti-Asian remarks and pepper-sprayed four people in New York last weekend was arrested on Friday, police said.
Madeline Barker, 47, was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, two counts of attempted assault as a hate crime and four counts of harassment as a hate crime, CNN quoted the New York Police Department as saying.
The video of the attack released by police on June 11 showed the woman using pepper spray as she spoke to the victims. The video does not contain any audio.
The woman later approached four Asian women, knocked a mobile phone out of one of their hands and pepper sprayed all four of them as she made xenophobic comments, according to a police statement.
The women reported feeling burning in their eyes and faces following the assault and were treated on-scene by emergency medical services, police said. The incident was investigated by the NYPD’s hate crimes task force.