Homeless man charged with hate crimes in assaults on seven Asian women in Manhattan

A homeless man has been charged with multiple hate crimes for waging a two-hour anti-Asian assault spree that targeted seven women in Manhattan, cops said Wednesday.

Officers picked up Steven Zajonc, 29, on Wednesday in the New York Public Library’s branch on 40th St. and Fifth Ave. He was wearing the same clothes as a suspect caught on video in Sunday’s disturbing spree, police sources said.

A veteran security guard at the library saw him in the building and called police, who grabbed him inside a seventh-floor bathroom, where security staff had isolated him, sources said.

Zajonc, whose address is listed as a Midtown homeless shelter, previously lived in Sarasota, Fla., police said.

He’s charged with seven counts each of assault and attempted assault as a hate crime, as well as seven counts of aggravated harassment and harassment.

Police sources said Zajonc acted erratically after his arrest. “He was screaming and shouting in the cells, ” one police source said.

Several victims and witnesses to the spree picked Zajonc out of a line-up, cops sources said.

Zajonc punched, elbowed and shoved seven Asian women as he made his way from Midtown down to Nolita, then back up to Greenwich Village, between roughly 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, cops said.

He first struck a 57-year-old woman at Madison Ave. and E. 30th St. about 6:30 p.m., punching her in the face, then attacked a 25-year-old woman in the face and arm at Fifth Ave. and E. 30th St., cops said.

At 6:45 p.m., he punched a third woman, 21, in the face at Park Ave. South and E. 23rd St., and did the same to a 25-year-old at Irving Place and E. 17th St. a few minutes later.

He then elbowed two victims in the face, a 19-year-old woman at Union Square East and E. 17th St. at 7:05 p.m., and a 25-year-old at E. Houston and Mott Sts. at 7:25 p.m., cops said.

Finally, he shoved a 20-year-old woman to the ground at Broadway and E. Eighth St., just after 8:30 p.m.

Police on Tuesday released video footage of the suspect, described as a blond man with a light complexion, wearing a light blue T-shirt, dark-colored pants, dark-colored shoes and a multicolored backpack.

Even before the spree, anti-Asian attacks were on the rise in the city this year, with seven as of Feb. 23 compared with three in the same time frame last year.

The city saw 131 anti-Asian hate crimes in all of 2021, up from 27 the year before, according to NYPD data.

With Kerry Burke