‘Go back to your country!’ Florida woman accused of a hate crime in New York
A Central Florida woman is due back in a NYC court on Thursday over a disturbing incident caught on camera, NBC News reports.
In a widely shared bystander cellphone video, the suspect, later identified by police as Madeline Barker, 47, is seen using pepper spray on four Asian women in Manhattan last Saturday.
The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force posted screenshots in an attempt to track her down for “xenophobic remarks,” and someone recognized her, leading to her arrest, authorities say.
Barker, of Merritt Island along Florida’s Space Coast, was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, two counts of attempted assault as a hate crime, and four counts of harassment as a hate crime, according to court records.
As of Sunday, Barker was still being held on $20,000 bail.
According to a complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the women who got sprayed with the noxious liquid told authorities that Barker yelled: “Why don’t you go back to your country!”
It is unclear what prompted Barker’s tirade, which was also corroborated by witnesses on the same street that afternoon in the Chelsea neighborhood.
One woman told ABC 7 News they were just checking out flower installations in the area when Barker just approached them.
”She turned around and she was like, ‘You guys are trying to harass me,’” one woman, who did not wish to be identified, told the outlet.
”I said, ‘We’re not trying to bother you,’” another added.
All the women who were sprayed refused medical attention and were not seriously injured, according to police.
Barker has no criminal record in her hometown, according to a Miami Herald search of cases with the Brevard County Clerk of Court.
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This story was originally published June 20, 2022 at 1:09 PM.
