NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A 47-year-old Florida woman was indicted on Thursday for assaulting four Asian women with pepper spray while yelling xenophobic remarks on a street in the Meatpacking District on June 11.
Madeline Barker allegedly confronted the group of four Asian women for standing near where she was sitting and then hurled racially offensive remarks at them, including, “Why don't you just go back to your country.”
Barker pepper-sprayed the group standing outside on Hudson St. between 13 and 14 St., in the Meatpacking District.
As a result of the assault, all four victims experienced a burning sensation to their faces or eyes.
“Hearing the hateful and discriminatory words, ‘go back to your country’ is deeply painful and these women allegedly heard them before enduring the physical pain of Ms. Barker’s pepper spray,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said. “People of all backgrounds deserve to feel safe, which is why my Office is enhancing these prosecutions through the expansion of the Hate Crimes Unit.”
The indictment holds eight counts of Assault as a Hate Crime and Aggravated Harassment, a misdemeanor hate crime.
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