A woman in Shoreline, Seattle has been arrested and charged with a hate crime for threatening her Asian American neighbour.
Jan Myers, 72, had yelled racial slurs at her neighbour for years. Whilst her neighbour was gardening, Myers yelled “hey Miss Vietnam, you’re not going to live very long” and referred to her as “slant eye.”
Prosecutors stated “these anti-Asian racial slurs escalated to threatening behaviour.” Video footage captured by the victim showed the confrontation.
The incident marked the 11th hate-crime case filed by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office this year. Four of those involved AAPI victims.
Myers had previously complained that the neighbors’ cat had defecated on her lawn and denied making threats or calling the neighbor “Miss Vietnam.”
However, police said the statements “were inconsistent with what the video showed.”
Myers was released on her own recognizance after an initial court hearing. She is scheduled to attend an arraignment April 22.
The incident follows a surge in attacks on Asian Americans across the country, including an Asian woman who was hit in the face in Philadelphia.
In California, Vietnamese family was tied up in their own home by robbers who stole their entire life savings in Oakland, California.
Also in California, an elderly Asian American woman was kicked in the face by a suspect who was on parole for fatally stabbing his mother.
Meanwhile, a Japanese American man was randomly punched in the face whilst walking in Washington D.C.
In San Francisco, a 19-year-old Asian hate crime victim was shot in the eye. and in LA, a 28-year-old Asian mother died in a fatal shooting in Compton.
Also in San Francisco, an Asian woman was attacked and dragged by a getaway car.
Additionally, a 13-year-old boy was racially attacked in Flushing.
Most recently, an Asian American mother was stabbed to death by a homeless woman in Riverside.
