Viral video shows Chinese immigrant describing horrific attack by drug addict in NYC: ‘Why Asian women?’

An Asian woman has described a horrific attack she survived outside a Long Island City restaurant. A video that has gone viral shows 30-year-old Chinese immigrant Runing Lao being attacked by a drug addict with an umbrella as she left the Chipotle near the corner of Purves Street and Jackson Avenue around 1 p.m. on July 17.

Lao told the New York Post that the attack outside the New York restaurant left her terrified and afraid to go back to work. “I was maybe five or 10 steps away from Chipotle … and this woman just started hitting me for no reason,” said Lao, who reportedly works in real estate.

“So I thought, ‘What’s going on? What happened?'” she added. “And then I immediately started screaming, ‘Help me!’ I was really shocked.”

The suspect was identified as 34-year-old Adriana Garcia of Queens. She allegedly grabbed Lao’s umbrella and broke it in half. She then hit Lao with it, drawing blood. “The umbrella is not particularly strong, but that kind of surprised me,” Lao said.

The Good Samaritan intervenes

Fortunately, a Good Samaritan intervened and helped Lao. “It was just a spontaneous reaction – I saw it and just reacted,” said Jerome David, 56, a disaster relief worker.

David said it appeared Garcia intentionally bumped into Lao and then began attacking her. “Before Lao even had a chance to apologize or say anything else, the woman stood up and punched her in the face,” David said.

“At first I thought it was a prank – like that ‘Punk’d’ show they do,” he said. “But when I saw (Garcia) break the umbrella and hit her in the face with blood pouring out, I was like, ‘Wow, what the hell?'”

David described trying to restrain Garcia. “She tried to run away in that direction, and I grabbed her right there, held her down, she hit me and broke my glasses, and then she ran over there, and I ran after her and pinned her to the ground,” David said, according to ABC7, adding that no one else “made any move to do anything.”

Lao was taken to hospital by paramedics with bleeding cuts and scratches on her face. She was treated and released.

Garcia was charged by the Queens District Attorney’s Office with two counts of assault. She was previously arrested on July 4 for hitting someone in the face with a razor blade during an argument over crack cocaine. She is said to have been arrested eight other times.

Garcia’s bail was set at $5,000 cash at her arraignment on July 18. Prosecutors said she is due in court on July 29.

“Why Asian women?”

A bandaged Lao woman said in the video that she is now afraid to go back to work. “I am terrified of going back to work anytime soon,” she said. “And why me? Why Asian women? Is it because I am short, I am thin, I am polite?”

Lao came to the United States several years ago to complete her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Since the attack, she has been living with friends.

“I’ve been in New York for almost 10 years, and in the beginning there weren’t that many homeless people or illegal immigrants,” she said. “But now there are a lot more. And I honestly don’t think the system is doing a good job of housing them, getting them an education and finding them a job.”

“It just doesn’t feel safe for an ordinary citizen, especially for a weaker, smaller woman,” she added.

Lao said she was grateful to David for coming to her aid. “I think he really saved me,” she said.

“I still love the city and hope that measures can be taken to make the city safer again,” she added.