May 3, 2020
The incident took place Friday afternoon, May 1 at Seafood Marts in Manhattan Chinatown, according to AsAmNews. An African-American male and female entered the market without face masks and was asked by employees to put one on—things went south after that. The couple allegedly started screaming “F*ck you Chinese people!”
The NYPD stated “Two individuals (male and female) entered the market without masks. The employees at the location approached the individuals and asked if they could put one on. Both individuals refused, which turned the verbal dispute into a physical altercation. The woman shopper sustained a laceration to her nose and mouth and a male employee sustained bruising to his neck and legs.”
The aftermath of the incident was captured and uploaded to Facebook by an unnamed woman speaking in Cantonese. AsAmNews reported three employees of the market and one African-American male were all charged with assault. Xue Liu of Queens, Yan Liu of Brooklyn, Hsiao-Chin Chang of Manhattan, and Kutay Lewis of the Bronx.
No charges were brought upon the couple for not wearing a mask in the marketplace.
Feature Screenshots via Lai Ho