An Asian man is facing hate crime charges after mistakenly attacking an Asian woman, who he believed was white, in retaliation for the rise in Asian hate crimes.
Police say a Korean woman was sitting in the driver's seat of her car outside her apartment when she looked up to see 37-year-old Michael Sangbong Rhee standing by the car and holding a gun. The woman said Rhee ordered her to get into the back seat of her car if she wanted to live.
The woman offered Rhee her wallet and money, but he replied that they would “do that later” before entering her car and pushing her into the back seat. The woman told police she had a struggle with Rhee, who attempted to grope her, only stopping the attack when she yelled out for a nearby maintenance man and warning that Rhee had a gun.
Rhee then exited the car and ran through the apartment complex to his own vehicle, with surveillance cameras catching his license plate number as he drove away.
Police later searched Rhee’s home and found the car and a BB gun matching the description provided by the woman.
Police believe Rhee mistakenly attacked the woman believing she was white, after he explained he was attempting to retaliate to the rise in hate crimes against Asians.
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The story comes amid growing concerns that there is a rise in hate crimes targeting Asian people, with some data showing as much as a 150% spike in reported incidents in 2020. The nation’s two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles, have seen the greatest spikes in reported Asian hate crime incidents, according to the data.
