Boston Transportation Police said Wednesday they had arrested a 16-year-old male in connection with an incident in which a group of teens racially harassed an Asian American passenger on the city’s subway last month.
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police confirmed the arrest on Twitter and said the teen could be charged with unarmed assault for the purpose of robbery and intimidation.
The victim, Vivian Dang, 25, took video of the attack, which occurred on the MBTA Red Line around 10 p.m. on Sept. 21. your video went viral on TikTokand a week later she told me NBC News that a group of boys on the train cornered her and mocked her in a mock Chinese accent, saying, “Can I get some dumplings?” and “Can I get some ramen with the egg?” and making other racist comments.
When the teens first got into the car, she told NBC, they announced they were there to commit a “mass robbery” and tried to remove a passenger’s shoes. When Dang changed cars, they followed her, she said.
“They started saying things like, ‘Don’t let her go,'” Dang remembers. “That’s when I started to get really scared.”
Dang spoke to NBC News following news of the arrest.
“It’s bittersweet. It was a child. You don’t want to get them in trouble,” she said. “But again, their actions led to this.”
There was one there Rise in anti-Asian hate crimes since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is believed to have originated in China. Former President Donald Trump used racial epithets to describe the disease even as attacks increased, including “China virus” and “kung flu.”
A Pew Research report Last year found that about a third of Asian Americans say they have changed their daily routines in the past year because of fear of threats or attacks.