The family of a Chinese man who died after being savagely beaten in an unprovoked attack in Manhattan’s Alphabet City on Friday want his killing treated as a hate crime.
“Our whole family is in severe and deep pain,” Michelle Ruan, a daughter of victim Wen Hui Ruan, said through a Cantonese translator.
The family spoke out Wednesday shortly before Ruan’s alleged killer, Jamie Pugh, was ordered held without bail at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on murder, assault and robbery charges.
The shocking attack was captured on surveillance video. Ruan is seen getting thrown against the wall of a building on E. 6th Street and then getting kicked repeatedly in the head before his crazed attacker turns and walks away, seemingly pleased with his work.
“We want the suspect to have the proper kind of penalty so that we feel safe to walk on the street,” Ruan said. “We demand a life (sentence).”
Ruan’s grieving widow, Ling-Heung Tsang, 64, sobbed as her daughter spoke of their family’s tragic loss, and was too distraught to speak.
“It makes me a little bit sick to see him,” Michelle said following the hearing.
Ruan, 68, died at the hospital the day after the senseless attack near Avenue D.
Ruan, a retired garment worker, suffered a fractured skull and face after Pugh stomped on him “at least three times,” prosecutors said.
Pugh, 20, was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder during an attempted robbery.
“There’s significant evidence in this case, not the least of which being the video which was quite frankly one of the most horrific acts I’ve ever seen,” said Assistant District Attorney Shawn McMahon.
Robert Brown, a lawyer and retired NYPD captain who is representing Ruan’s family, said authorities should probe to “see if it was motivated by hate as opposed to motivated by a robbery.”
Brown said it appeared to him there was no attempt by Pugh to get property from the victim.
If Pugh’s murder charges were to be elevated to a hate crime, he would face a possible sentence of life in prison without parole.
His mother, Charlotte Pugh-Douglas, stuck up for her son at the courthouse.
“People are going to believe what they see on TV. My son is not like that,” she said.
Pugh’s lawyer, Franklin Rothman, said the defendant’s past arrests are for minor charges and the alleged brutality here “doesn’t make sense.”
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