Madeline Barker Arrested After Pepper Spraying Four Asian Women In Alleged Hate Crime

New York City authorities recently charged a woman with hate crimes after a video showed her pepper-spraying four Asian women.

According to New York City court records, Madeline Barker was charged with four counts of second-degree aggravated harassment and three counts of third assault as a hate crime.

Barker is reported to have berated a group of four Asian women and pepper-spraying and making anti-Asian remarks.

“Go back where you came from. Why don’t you go back to your country,” she said.

The hate crime comes at a time when attacks against Asian-Americans are becoming common after the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the recent weeks, elderly Asians have fallen victim to malicious attacks in New York City.

Jacky Wong of the Greater Chinatown Civic Association said in a statement that more needs to be done to protect the AAPI community.

“Many anti-violence inciԁents are unԁer-recorԁeԁ anԁ unԁer-reporteԁ because law enforcement anԁ electeԁ officials ԁo not take them seriously enough,” Wong saiԁ, stating that Barker’s behavior is “just the tip of an iceberg.”

“With anti-Asian crime still on the rise in New York City, many Chinatown seniors would rather go hungry than shop to avoid being harassed,” she said.