Feb. 18, 2021 By Michael Dorgan
A man has been arrested for shoving a small Asian woman to the pavement in Flushing Tuesday – following a borough-wide appeal to track him down that was led by actress Olivia Munn.
Patrick Mateo was arrested Thursday morning after a viral video showed him fling a 52-year-old woman to the ground following a verbal altercation near Main Street. The video, taken from grainy surveillance footage, has gained more than 250,000 views on Instagram.
Mateo, 47, has been charged with assault and harassment, according to police.
There were no charges against Mateo indicating that the crime was racially motivated. The victim’s daughter had claimed online that Mateo had used racial slurs leading up to the incident.
The 109th precinct announced news of the arrest on Twitter this morning and thanked the community for providing them with a number of tips in the investigation.
“A prime example of the community and the police working together for a safer New York City,” the post read.
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Actress Olivia Munn posted an image of the then unidentified Mateo to her Twitter page Wednesday and appealed to the NYPD and Queens residents to track him down. Munn said that she is a friend of Maggie Kayla Cheng, the victim’s daughter who initially posted the video.
The video shows Mateo throw an item at the woman outside New Flushing Bakery, located at 135-45 Roosevelt Ave., at around 2 p.m.
He then grabs the woman with both hands, pushes her a few steps backward and then aggressively flings her to the ground. Mateo then turns around and walks away.
The victim, police said, suffered minor head injuries and was transferred to Booth Hospital by EMS.
Munn thanked her followers for retweeting the image of Mateo that led to his capture.
“The Asian community felt your outrage and support and YOU GUYS DID THIS!!” she wrote.
“Thank you thank you thank you thank you.”
?APPREHENDED? Thanks to numerous tips from the community, the suspect in the violent assault of an elderly female on Roosevelt Avenue has been arrested. A prime example of the Community & the Police working together for a safer New York City. #YourCityYourCall pic.twitter.com/qtlVwCS7uS
— NYPD 109th Precinct (@NYPD109Pct) February 18, 2021
13 Comments
Patrick Mateo was released already until his next court date.
The real crime is a 47 year-old dressed as a 21 Jump Street doof – anger issues against women AND a midlife crisis, tsk tsk.
Well done the NYPD. District Attorney needs to do next step and lock this guy up…
“There were no charges against Mateo indicating that the crime was racially motivated.”
Same to the subway crimes against Asians over the past few weeks… Black and hispanics gonna ride the BLM movement to get away with legitimate hate crimes. That and you have liberal laws that will have them back in the streets in no time. Is a win win for them. You still want to march with these people, Asians? Time to wake up. These are the same people who are taking your kids’ spots in specialized schools in the name of systemic racism. But funny thing is math, basic science and reading haven’t changed over the past 100 years… just saying. Can’t blame racism on everything right, progressives?
BLM? Lol a crazy man shoved a woman to the ground, on video.
You seem a little too fragile for this city.
This white person committed a hate crime, but was not charged. You comment said something about science class? Take a deep breath.
What a teeny tiny little maskless man. Glad he was caught! Thanks to the community and his god awful sunglasses.
He wasn’t white so no hate crime was committed.
I’m sorry that offends you, but he was white, if you scroll up there’s a photo and everything!
I believe they said on the news he was Latino.
He’s as white as the woman who assault that jogger last summer…oh, wait, she was Colombian and the story disappeared. Hmmmm
You can see he’s white in the photo lol
Ok, I’ll let PATRICK Ewing know he’s white now according to your system of first names deciding ethnic backgrounds. Liberals are the most racist people.