Latina grandmother assaulted on LA bus in anti-Asian attack

A 70-year-old woman was getting off a bus in LA when another passenger dragged her to the other end of the vehicle and beat her, her son says

Police have arrested a suspect in the beating of a 70-year-old woman on a bus in Los Angeles (Getty Images)

A 70-year-old Latina woman who was mistaken for Asian was savagely beaten on a Los Angeles bus, her son says.

The grandmother, who her son would only identify as Becky, was getting ready to leave the bus to go grocery shopping when a female passenger shouted an ethnic slur used for Chinese people. The assailant then dragged Becky to the other end of the bus and brutally battered her, her son Pete told The Eastsider.

“Nobody would help. Not even the bus driver,” Pete said.

The assault finally stopped when another passenger called 911.

Pete says his mother was left with a concussion, two black eyes, a broken nose, and some of her hair pulled out. Her leg was also badly bruised, and Pete says she now has trouble walking.

She was hospitalised for 24 hours and then discharged.

Police have arrested a suspect in the assault, 23-year-old Yasmine Beasley, but have not given any more information.

Pete says he and his family are often mistaken for Asian Americans, but they’re actually of Mexican heritage.

Anti-Asian hate crimes have risen dramatically since Covid-19 arrived in the United States. From 2019 to 2020, such crimes more than doubled in the country’s 16 largest cities, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

The disturbing trend came into the spotlight last month after six women of Asian origin were among eight people killed in a mass shooting in Atlanta, Georgia.

California has been no exception. Earlier this month, a US Karate champion of Japanese descent was threatened and harassed by a stranger in a park calling her anti-Chinese epithets.

Last month, President Biden gave a national address on the growing violence against Asian Americans.

“They’re forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America,” the president said. “It’s wrong, it’s un-American, and it must stop.”