Who is Tammel Esco: NY man sentenced 17.5 years prison for hate crime as victims recalls how he punched her over 100 times

The Westchester County Court gave a man who assaulted a 67-year-old Asian woman a 17.5-year prison term. Tammel Esco admitted to striking the victim more than 100 times on March 11 as part of a hate crime assault. The Yonkers apartment of the Asian woman was where the incident happened. Esco was seen on surveillance footage following the woman into the lobby and brutally punching her while yelling hate-filled profanities and anti-Asian slurs at the woman of Philipino descent. Esco was sentenced to 17.5 years in state prison by the Westchester County Court on November 29 for the violent hate crime against the Asian woman in Yonkers, according to a news briefing by the Westchester County District Attorney's Office. The announcement was made by DA Miriam E. Rocah and Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza. Esco will be subject to post-release monitoring for five years after entering a plea of guilty to first-degree assault as a hate crime. According to the prosecution, Esco is seen approaching the woman from behind in the surveillance video, punching her more than 100 times, spitting on her, and hitting her with his construction boots once he enters the lobby, according to CBS News. Shortly after the incident, the security video of the attack was made public. The victim suffered many fractures to her face, blood to her brain, and bruising. The victim appeared in court on November 29 to read her impact statement, the district attorney's office said. Stating that the "heartless" incident cost her her home, the victim explained "Because of the viciousness and hate of Tammel Esco, I lost the place I called home for over 24 years, the place where I raised my daughters, and my longtime neighbors...As the attack happened, all I could think was, 'Please Lord let me live, please Lord my daughters need me." "A complete stranger heartlessly spit, beat and kicked me over 100 times just because of my heritage...My only hope is that God and the criminal justice system will see fit to make sure this never happens to any other innocent family again," she added, according to the district attorney's office. Following the sentencing of Tammel in court, DA Rocah said in the news briefing that "This is a case that has traumatized not only the victim and her family, but also her neighbors in the city of Yonkers, the broader Westchester community and the broader Asian American and Pacific Islander community really across the country.” One of the most heinous and horrific hate crimes in the region, according to Rocah, was committed during the brutal assault. On the day of the incident, Esco was detained and arrested; he has been jailed without bail ever since.