A disturbing incident involving a teenage girl assaulting a Nevada family on the New York City subway during their vacation has garnered widespread attention after footage of the attack went viral last week.
The 16-year-old, whose identity remains undisclosed due to her age, voluntarily surrendered herself to the 6th Precinct in Manhattan on Tuesday around 9:45 a.m., in relation to the assault that took place at the West 4th Street station just days prior.
The teen has been charged with two felony counts of assault, as reported by the New York Police Department to Fox News Digital.
The captured video depicts the teenager physically attacking 51-year-old Sue Young in front of her husband and 11-year-old twin daughters, accompanied by a barrage of racial slurs aimed at the unsuspecting Asian tourists.
According to Young, who is a retired doctor, the confrontation began when the teenager and two other girls began mocking her family from across the subway car.
Young initially tried to ease the situation by laughing along, but this attempt only escalated the verbal harassment into insults and threats.
The situation soon turned violent as the teenager physically attacked Young, grabbing her hair and causing a struggle that resulted in injuries.
“The girl in the white T-shirt… she started grabbing my hair. We were grabbing at each other.” Young said. “I buried my face to block at my daughters, saw them pin me to the ground, and that’s why I have all the bruises.”
During the altercation, Young’s glasses were knocked off and broken, and her arm was severely bruised after becoming trapped between handrails.
The teenager then shifted her focus to a bystander who was filming the incident, assaulting her by grabbing her hair and punching her multiple times.
“When I started to film, one of the teens decked me in the head,” the bystander said. “I know martial arts, so I knew how to deflect to take the blow, and I called 911.”
Acknowledging the dangerous situation, other subway riders intervened, forming a barrier between the family and their attackers. The trio of teenagers fled when the train reached the Broadway-Lafayette station.
Although initially labeled as a potential hate crime by the NYPD due to the racial nature of the insults, Young expressed her belief that her family was not targeted due to their ethnicity.
“These are very young girls,” the Nevada woman said. “Somebody or something or some circumstance has made a big impression on them — whether it’s historical pressure, societal pressure, social pressure.”
“It just seems like it’s a more underlying issue that we, as a society and as a community, need to hold everybody accountable, not just law enforcement.”
She suggested that societal pressures, circumstances, or external influences may have contributed to the teenagers’ behavior.
Young’s husband echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that while he and his wife are not seeking revenge, accountability remains crucial. He underscored the need for society to hold everyone responsible for their actions, not solely relying on law enforcement.
