Brandon Elliot, 41, has pleaded guilty to the 2021 hate crime attack on Vilma Kari, a 65-year-old woman Asian-American woman in Hell’s Kitchen.
On March 29, 2021, Hell’s Kitchen became the scene of a harrowing act of hate. Vilma Kari, on her way to church walking along W43rd Street between 8/9th Avenue, was brutally attacked by Elliot. The assault, captured in a disturbing video that went viral, showed Elliot knocking Kari to the ground, followed by a series of kicks to her face and body, all while uttering hateful, anti-Asian statements. According to court documents, when a Good Samaritan approached to intervene, Elliot threatened the man with a knife before fleeing the scene. The woman was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with a fractured pelvis, forehead contusions and contusions across her body.
The visual evidence of the attack, seen by millions, not only in New York but worldwide, sparked outrage and a call for justice. “That video was hard to watch. That could be our mom, daughter, sister, wife. I don’t want you to look away,” implored Jo-Ann Yoo, Executive Director of the Asian American Federation, in a 2021 press conference.
The question posed by Yoo during the aftermath of the attack, “How does a woman get punched and stomped on in front of a luxury building and the doorman closes the door?” echoed the sentiments of a community grappling with a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, in announcing Elliot’s guilty plea, underscored the hate-fueled nature of the assault. “Brandon Elliot brutally and repeatedly assaulted a 65-year-old mother in a hate-fueled attack that shook our city,” he said. Elliot’s conviction is on charges of Assault in the First Degree as a Hate Crime and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree.
Elliot will be sentenced on January 3, 2024, to 15 years in state prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision. “Everyone deserves to be safe and know they belong here, regardless of who they are. Anyone who commits acts of violence driven by hate will be prosecuted,” said DA Bragg in a statement today.
Following the attack, two workers in the luxury building that Kari was passing on W43rd Street were fired. Security video of the incident showed them watching the violence but apparently doing nothing to help her. The workers were later dismissed. Their union said “the workers did assist the victim and flagged down the police”, as was shown in a longer version of the building’s camera footage.
For victims or witnesses of hate crimes or bias incidents, DA Bragg urges reaching out to his office at (212) 335-3100.
Thank you DA Bragg. Justice is finally served.
What a creep and coward that person is. Good riddance. KB
Didn’t he also kill his mother ?