“She was still screaming and fighting for her life, and they weren’t able to get to her for almost an hour and a half,” Ms. Niou said.
She said she was emotionally drained from the string of rallies she and other Asian American community leaders have had to attend in recent weeks, including one two days ago about a Korean diplomat who was assaulted.
“This has happened so many times, and we have attended too many vigils,” she said.
Mr. Nash had been arrested at least four times last year on misdemeanor charges, including assault, harassment and selling a fare card, court records show. Three of the cases remain open, according to online court records. A spokesman for the Legal Aid Society, which is representing him in the open matters, declined to comment.
Police released Mr. Nash with a desk-appearance ticket in the assault case and in an earlier arrest in connection with the unlawful sale of a fare card, according to court records shared by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. At his arraignment on Oct. 13 on the assault case, the judge released him without bail, the records show.
On Jan. 8, Mr. Nash was arrested again and charged with criminal mischief and possession of a forged instrument. According to a criminal complaint, he disabled several MetroCard vending machines at Herald Square, Penn Station and Second Avenue over a monthlong spree. When he was arrested, the police said, he tried to escape from a holding van after cops found bent MetroCards in his pockets.
At his arraignment, a judge put Mr. Nash under supervised release, requiring him to check in three times a month, twice in person and once by phone, according to the records.
Jeffrey E. Singer contributed reporting.
