NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A man who served time in prison for killing his mother was arrested on hate crime charges in a brutal attack on a 65-year-old Asian woman in Manhattan earlier this week.
Brandon Elliot, 38, was arrested early Wednesday morning on W. 40th Street and charged with attempted assault as a hate crime, assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault, police said.
Elliot was living at a hotel that serves as a homeless shelter a few blocks from the scene of the attack near Times Square. Sources said video and a number of Crime Stoppers tips helped police figure out the area he frequented, as well as his name.
Elliot stabbed his mother to death with a knife in the Bronx in 2002, when he was 19, according to authorities. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder that same year.
Elliot was imprisoned for 17 years before he was released on lifetime parole in late 2019. The parole board had previously twice denied his release. His record also included an arrest for robbery in 2000.
Video released by the NYPD shows the 65-year-old woman in front of a building on W. 43rd Street, near Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, around 11:40 a.m. on Monday, when the attacker approaches her and starts punching and kicking her, knocking her to the ground.
The man then made several anti-Asian statements to the woman and kicked her in the head several times, police said. He fled the scene after the attack.
The woman was taken to NYU Langone Health with a serious injury, according to police, who said she was in stable condition.
Staff members, including a security guard, at the building were suspended Tuesday after they were seen on video closing the front door of the building as the woman was being attacked.
The Brodsky Organization, which runs the 360 W. 43rd Street building, said the workers who witnessed the attack on Monday morning "have been suspended pending an investigation in conjunction with their union."
During his briefing on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack "absolutely disgusting" and "outrageous,” adding that the person who did it was "full of hate."
Shea also commented during a NY1 interview on Tuesday, calling the attack “very disturbing.”
“It’s really disgusting when you see the video,” Shea said. “We’re trying to make any sense of it and can’t. I don’t know who attacks a 65-year-old woman and leaves her on the street like that.”
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