Woman charged with hate crimes after allegedly using pepper spray, making anti-Asian remarks

A woman in New York was arrested and charged with hate crimes on Friday after she allegedly pepper-sprayed four people and made anti-Asian remarks.

Madeline Barker, 47, faces charges for assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime and harassment as a hate crime, according to CNN.

The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force began a search for Barker last week, posting pictures of her on Twitter and explaining that she was “Wanted for an Assault” involving “xenophobic remarks.”

Barker’s alleged pepper spray attack was aimed at four Asian women, and she made xenophobic comments to an Asian man as well.

Barker allegedly told the man to “take all your bitches back to where you came from,” although the man did not seem to have connections to the women Barker allegedly pepper-sprayed.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Dashboard has found that about one-fifth of recent hate crime incidents have been directed as Asians or Asian Americans.

The U.S. saw a spike of attacks against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community during the pandemic after reports that COVID-19 was believed to have originated in Wuhan, China.

The Hill has reached out to the NYPD Hate Crimes Dashboard for more information about the case.

Hate crimes remain a rising concern in the U.S. following a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., where 18-year-old Peyton Gendron allegedly killed 10 people at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

Gendron was charged earlier this month with domestic terrorism motivated by hate and 10 counts of first-degree murder.