Asian American woman who's running for NYC council says she was shoved on subway stairwell, sprained her ankle

An Asian American woman who's running for New York City Council said she was shoved on a Manhattan subway stairwell by another woman last week, the New York Post reported.

The attack against Susan Lee follows numerous others in the city lately that have been fueled by hate and racism, although she told the paper she isn't sure what motivated her assailant.

What are the details?

Lee, 42, told the Post she was in the stairwell at the Oculus subway station last Wednesday when she spotted the woman staring at her: "You know she has this mischievous look on her face, and I was just thinking like, 'Oh gosh, this isn't good.'"

Sure enough, Lee noted to the paper that the woman pushed her — but that she was able to grab the handrail to brace herself.

The Post said Lee fell a few steps down and suffered a sprained ankle — and she noted to the paper that it could've been much worse.

"If I wasn't prepared for her to push me, I would have fallen all the way down the stairs," Lee added to the paper. "I was holding on to the rail really tightly, and I had my other hand in front of my face."

After the attack, she headed straight for her home, the Post said: "I wanted to be someplace safe."

Lee added to the paper that she isn't sure if the woman, who appeared to be homeless, targeted her because she's Asian or just because she was alone.

What happened next?

Lee reported the incident to police a few days later after friends urged her to do so, telling her it would be wise to get it on the record, the Post said.

She told the paper that police had her look at several hundred photos in case the suspect was among them, but the effort turned up nothing. Lee has described the assailant as black, the Post said.

Now what?

Since the attack, Lee — who had been a frequent user of public transportation — has taken the subway only twice, the paper said.

"Now I'm always walking," she noted to the Post

Anything else?

There have been numerous attacks of late against Asians in New York City:

• A hate crime suspect was accused this week of threatening an Asian woman, smashing her cellphone, and telling her "go back to China."
• Another hate crime suspect was arrested for allegedly punching an Asian woman twice in the face in front of her 7-year-old daughter Saturday as they were on their way to rally — against violence toward Asians.
• A witness said an attacker yelled "you motherf***ing Asian" at a 68-year-old man before punching him in the face Friday on a subway train.
• A man urinated on an Asian woman aboard a subway train over the weekend, police told the New York Post.
• A 61-year-old Asian man was slashed across his face on a subway train as he was riding to the first of his two jobs last month; he had asked the suspect to stop kicking his backpack.