A 33-year-old man has been arrested and charged in relation to the incident.
A 61-year-old Chinese woman in Queens, New York City in the United States is in critical condition after she was brutally attacked by a man wielding a large rock.
The woman, who has been identified as GuiYing Ma from the Chinese province of Liaoning, was sweeping the sidewalk of an empty property when she was attacked in the head, according to media reports.
Attacked with rock while sweeping sidewalk
Police said that at around 8am on Nov. 26, a man struck Ma in the head with a large rock, reported CNN.
Ma’s landlord, Yihung Hsieh, said that she had been sweeping the sidewalk of an empty property when the attack took place.
“I feel so guilty because she’s helping me. She’s helping me to sweeping but now she faces such an accident — I feel so guilty, I feel so sick,” ABC7 New York reported Hsieh saying.
According to CNN, Ma was taken to the hospital after sustaining injuries to her head and face. She had to have surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain.
She is currently in critical condition and unconscious but is expected to survive, according to ABC7 New York.
Has no family in U.S. other than husband
In the GoFundMe campaign Hsieh set up for Ma, he wrote that she does not have medical insurance and lost her job after the pandemic hit. Other than her husband, who works as a restaurant cleaner, she has no family in the U.S. as her son and two grandchildren are in China.
Hsieh told CNN: “She’s not only a tenant, she is just like my family. I treat her like my auntie, because my mom just passed away.”
He shared an update with a photo of Ma’s husband at her bedside talking to her and said that Ma’s husband had observed her fingers and toes moving a bit when he called her name.
NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force investigating
Ma’s attacker has been identified as 33-year-old Elisaul Perez, who has been arrested and charged with assault in the first and second degree and criminal possession of a weapon, ABC7 New York reported.
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A New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson told CNN that the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the attack.
