BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: New York man Ashish Prashar, 40, found himself at the receiving end of a hate crime as he went to a Brooklyn park with his 18-month-old son on November 8, wearing a Palestinian head scarf ‘Keffiyeh’.
A seemingly unidentified woman hurled coffee at Prashar, who recorded most of the attack and shared it on his social media account.
The hurling of coffee was accompanied by a verbal onslaught as the woman screamed directed towards him, “I hope your baby burns in an oven.”
The woman’s identity was not known, but the internet sleuths took a wild guess and concluded the woman was a staff member of a non-profit organization New York Road Runners, Annette Marie Lalic.
However, the organization soon took to its social media handle on X to clarify the confusion and declared the woman was not their employee Annette Marie Lalic.
The entire nature of the incident, naturally, left the internet in curiousity as the netizens dug hard to find the identity of the woman.
Why was Ashish Prashar attacked?
The confrontation between Prashar and the woman began when both of them went to Brooklyn’s Edmonds Playground of Fort Greene with their respective children.
As Prashar’s 18-month-old son was playing basketball with the woman’s daughter, she asked Prashar whether he supported Hamas as the man was wearing Keffiyeh, a head scarf popular in the Middle East.
Prashar took to his Instagram and narrated the incident and said on November 9, “Yesterday in Edmonds Playground in Fort Greene my 18month old and I were physically and verbally attacked by a woman.”
He continued, “The woman approached me, screaming and shouting, calling us terrorists, dogs, and said we are part of H@mas. She said that we don’t belong here and that we should leave the park.”
He also alleged that the woman said, “Your people burn babies and I hope your baby burns in an oven.”
Not only that, in the video shared by Prashar, it can be seen the woman throwing her phone and a cup of coffee at him and his son.
He recounted, “She threw her phone and hot coffee at my baby and me and I didn’t put down my son behind me my legs he would’ve either been hit with the phone or burnt.”
Prashar remarked, “This was a hate crime. We’re obviously very shaken up by what has happened.” But he reassured and said, “We’re ok.”
In the same video, the woman can be seen repeatedly yelling, “Get away, get away, get away from me.”
Prashar told Daily Mail in an interview that he stopped recording after a certain time. He said that the woman continued to approach him and hit him several times.
He said to the news outlet, “When someone asks you a proactive question, they are not looking for a real answer,” before adding, “I wanted to de-escalate.”
He added, “I feel sad my son has experienced has been a target a hate crime at 18 months,” before continuing, “He knew something was wrong - he knew something was off. I held him there and told him that he was loved.”
Prashar shared with the news outlet that he originally hails from London and works as a political strategist and criminal Justice activist.
He also shared that he is currently attached to an organization that is calling for a ceasefire in Israel.
In an interview with CBS New York, Prashar shared, “She told me I don’t belong here. You are a terrorist. You don’t belong here. She told me several times that I didn’t belong here.”
He continued, “She threw her phone viscerally at both our heads. I ducked and it missed both of us. At that point, I put my son on the ground behind my legs. When I looked back up, hot coffee was coming towards my face.”
“She targeted me because I’m wearing a Palestinian scarf," said Prashar about the reason for the attack.
Has the woman been identified?
The woman is not yet identified. The police are offering a reward of $3,500 for anyone who would offer information about the woman.
Prashar is also sharing the update of the case on his Instagram.
The internet sleuths are, however, trying their best to identify the woman which led them to wrongly identify New York Road Runners staff member Annette Marie Lalic as the suspect.
The organization, nevertheless, made a post on its X account and negated the claim.
Even the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a statement and said that the woman is not an "EEOC employee or contractor."
Internet reacts
Someone on social media said, "Find her and press charges government hasn't eliminated our free speech rights yet. isn't this assault?"
"For sake of safety of other kids and safe park for kids, she shall be arrested and charged for humiliating mankind," said someone else.
Someone else shared, "This woman and an additional friend hit me 2 weeks ago, unannounced , because I was wearing Arabic techno radio stations tshirt. Headphones on. I had no idea what was going on at the time. Corner of willoughby and Washington in fort Greene/Clinton hill. Everyone be vigilante."
After a few people accused Lalic of being the perpetrator, one of her friends posted, "REPOST PLS my acquaintance annette lalic is being falsely accused of being the woman in this video she is NOT this person. both her job and the exercise clothing brand (she modeled for them) have CONFIRMED it is not her i also added a photo side by side PLEASE REPOST."
Another sided with Lalic and said, "Unfortunate, good to see she hasnt suffered professionally for this even though the mental anguish would be horrible."
