An Asian woman’s shocking story has gone viral after she was randomly attacked by a drug addict outside a restaurant in Long Island City, leaving her terrified after the shocking incident.
Luning Lao, a 30-year-old Chinese immigrant, told The Washington Post she was afraid to go back to work after she was suddenly attacked as she left the Chipotle near the corner of Purves and Jackson streets around 1 p.m. on July 17.
“I was about five or 10 steps away from the Chipotle when this woman started hitting me for no reason,” Rao, who works in real estate, said in an interview Tuesday.
“And I was like, ‘What’s going on? What happened?'” she continued. “And then I immediately started screaming, ‘Help!’ I was just in shock.”
The assailant, whom police later identified as Adriana Garcia, 34, of Queens, took Rao’s umbrella, broke it in half and hit her with it as she desperately tried to defend herself.
“Umbrellas aren’t that sturdy, but I was kind of surprised,” she said.
But luckily, a good Samaritan eventually intervened.
“It was just an impulse. I saw it and I just reacted,” Jerome David, 56, an emergency management worker, said Tuesday.
David said he saw Garcia appear to purposely try to hit Rao and then pounce on the stunned woman a short time later.
“Before Ms. Rao could say, ‘I’m sorry,’ the woman stood up and punched her in the face,” David said.
“At first I thought it was some kind of prank like they were doing on the ‘Punk’ show,” he said. “But then… [Garcia] When he broke the umbrella and hit her in the face and blood was spurting out, I was like, ‘Whoa, what?'”
David grabbed Garcia and pushed him against a wall, grabbing both of his hands, but Garcia continued to swing at him violently, hitting him in the side of the face, the complaint said.
He then threw her to the ground and tried to hold her there, Samaritan said. He managed to get up and run away, so he pinned her down on the median strip of Queens Boulevard and held her there until police arrived, Samaritan said.
The assault left Rao with bleeding cuts and scratches on her face, and paramedics rushed her to a hospital where she was treated and released, according to the NYPD.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office later charged Garcia with two counts of assault, the latest addition to a lengthy criminal record that includes a July 4 arrest for slashing someone in the face with a razor during an argument over crack cocaine, police sources said.
According to sources, she has been arrested eight times.
A judge set bail at $5,000 cash/surety at her arraignment July 18. Her next court date is July 29, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Meanwhile, even as she speaks out about the incident, Rao remains terrified by the horror of the aftermath of the attack.
“I’m scared to go back to work anytime soon,” said the bandaged Lao man. Trending Instagram videos“Why me? Why an Asian woman? Because I’m short, skinny, polite?”
Rao, who came to the United States 10 years ago to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees, has been staying with a female friend for several days since the attack.
It helped calm her nerves, she added.
But she still believes something has gone wrong in the Big Apple since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve lived in New York for almost 10 years, and when I started out there weren’t that many homeless people or undocumented immigrants,” she said, “but now there are a lot more. And I honestly don’t think the system is working.” [regarding] How do we position them, get them educated, and help them find jobs?
“I don’t think it’s safe for the average citizen, especially a frail, small-sized woman.”
Her mentor, David, said he invested in Long Island City for its tranquility and peace, but after five years living in the neighborhood, he claims he regrets it and has seen the area ravaged by prostitution, robbery and homelessness.
“They’ve put up some different shelters, and I don’t have a problem with that,” he said, “but what I do have a problem with is that half of them end up sleeping in the park or on benches.”
“This area is declining. It’s getting out of hand,” he continued. “I hope Governor Hokull, Mayor Adams and the police department will do something.”
“In New York, you just want to survive, you don’t want to get hurt.”
