A Massachusetts man was indicted on hate crime charges this week after prosecutors said he assaulted an Asian couple in Manhattan’s Koreatown neighborhood.
Marc Jensen, 33, allegedly approached the unnamed couple, who are both of Korean descent, while they were waiting for an Uber around 1:30 a.m. on May 23, according to a press release from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Jensen allegedly made anti-Chinese comments and yelled at the woman before spitting on her face. He then pulled the man out of the car and assaulted him, the news release said. The man sustained bruising, pain in his elbow, a cut on his knee and a laceration on his forehead, the release continued.
Jensen was indicted on two counts of assault in the third degree as a hate crime and two counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree, a misdemeanor hate crime, according to the D.A.’s Office. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, a spokesperson from the D.A.’s Office said.
Jensen is expected back in court on Oct. 17, according to court documents. His legal counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in the release that his team “will continue to investigate incidents of hate and bias in our communities.”
The indictment comes a week after a 16-year-old girl was arrested for allegedly assaulting an Asian American woman and verbally harassing her family on the subway. The New York Police Department said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
The victim, Sue Young, told NBC News she doesn’t believe the suspect should be charged with a hate crime because race did not play a “primary role” in the attack.