Suni Lee says she was pepper sprayed in racial attack

Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee said she was the target of a racial attack involving pepper spray.

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Lee spoke with PopSugar, and confirmed to CNN that she was with a group of friends in Los Angeles in October, when a car drove by and started shouting racial slurs to the group.

The members of the group Lee was with were all of Asian descent.

One of the passengers of the car sprayed Lee’s arm with pepper spray before the car drove away.

“I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off,” Lee told PopSugar. “I didn’t do anything to them, and having the reputation, it’s so hard because I didn’t want to do anything that could get me into trouble. I just let it happen.”

Anti-Asian hate crimes have risen in the U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ESPN reported. There have been more than 9,000 incidents from March 2020 to June 2021, according to Stop AAPI Hate and ESPN.

One incident happened in metro Atlanta in March when a gunman shot and killed eight people at three spas, including Young’s Asian Massage parlor in Cherokee County.

Robert Aaron Long agreed to plead guilty in the spa shootings, WSBTV reported in August. He will serve four life sentences without parole for pleading guilty to killing Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis decided to charge Long with hate crimes based on race and gender, WSBTV reported.

“I don’t want our victims to get lost. These were all women who worked and lived in our communities. They were mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, friends,” Willis said in August.

Young is also accused of killing Yong Ae Yue, 63; Soon Chung Park, 74; Suncha Kim, 69; and Hyun Jung Grant, 51, at two spas in Fulton County, Georgia, WSBTV reported. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in September, WSBTV reported.

Lee was the first Hmong American to represent the U.S. at the Olympics and won gold in the individual all-around in Tokyo, ESPN reported.

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Photos: Sunisa Lee wins gold in Olympic gymnastics all-around Sunisa Lee, of United States, reacts as she poses for a picture after winning the gold medal in the artistic gymnastics women's all-around final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 29, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

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