70-year-old Mexican-American grandmother brutally beaten on bus by attacker who thought she was Asian

An elderly Mexican-American woman in California was reportedly savagely beaten by an attacker who thought the woman was Asian and hurled an anti-Chinese racial slur at her, according to reports.

A 70-year-old woman was riding on a bus to go grocery shopping in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles last Friday afternoon, the victim's son told the Eastsider. The elderly woman was getting off the bus to go to the Vons supermarket when another passenger screamed an anti-Chinese racial epithet at the Mexican-American woman. The suspect brutally beat the Mexican-American woman, whom she allegedly believed to be Asian.

"The victim's son reportedly says that a female passenger, described as 'black,' called his mother an anti-Asian slur and then attacked her," KTLA reported.

The attacker reportedly pulled out some of the victim's hair as she dragged her from the back of the bus to the front. The son said his mother suffered a concussion and a broken nose from the assault. Her leg was badly injured, and she now has difficulty walking, according to her son. She was allegedly held overnight in a hospital. Photos show the unnamed woman's face severely bruised and swollen.

"Nobody would help," the victim's son alleges. "Not even the bus driver."

A passenger called 911 to report the vicious beating.

The Los Angeles Police Department said that a suspect was apprehended shortly after the assault. LAPD said Yasmine Beasley, 23, was arrested on felony battery charges, according to the New York Post.

LAPD spokesman William Cooper told the Los Angeles Times that he did not know whether prosecutors were pursuing hate crime charges.

Jail records show that Beasley is being held on a $130,000 bond and is due in court on Friday, Crime Online reported.

The Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center, which tracks incidents of discrimination, hate, and xenophobia against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, reported 3,975 racially motivated incidents against Asian-Americans between March 19 last year and Feb. 28, 2021. Nearly 45% of the incidents in the United States took place in California, and 68% of the victims were female.