A suspect attacked an Asian rider on BART. He repeatedly made racial insults and slapped the man in the face. [Courtesy of Wiseley Wu]
Painfully racism still exists. In the U.S., the hate crimes rate has increased two consecutive years of 2015 and 2016 by 5% and 10% from two years ago, according to FBI statistics report. There is the total of 6,121 cases of hate crime reported and over 57% of this incidents are related to attack on specific race.
Another incident was added this month in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. A racist was spotted on BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, attacking an Asian rider.
According to BART Police that responded to the scene on Monday night, a man verbally attacked people onboard with racial insults then physically turned aggressive on an Asian rider. An onlooker recorded the incident and posted on social media and on YouTube.
In the video, the suspect is standing up and yelling racial slurs at an Asian man. Things get escalated when the suspect slaps the man's face. Some people came to defend the victim, preventing the suspect from nearing the man. However, the racist continued to mock the victim.
The original video shared on Facebook was viewed over 1.3 million times and was shared over 15,800 times.
People started reporting the incident at about 10:10 p.m. on Monday. When police boarded the BART at the Union City station, the suspect already disappeared.
BART officials said they are planning to hire more officers to strengthen BART security.
Anyone with information about the incident that took place on Monday night or recognizes the suspect, contact BART police investigators at 510-464-7040.
Kwak, Min Jung = abiel@ajunews.com
