[NYPOST] An Asian man who was brutally assaulted in an April hate crime attack has died from his injuries, the NYPD announced Saturday.Yao Pan Ma, 61, was repeatedly kicked in the head April 23 while collecting cans in East Harlem, cops said.
Ex-con Jarrod Powell was caught on video assaulting Ma, and busted four days after the savage attack, which left the victim in a coma.
Ma died Dec. 31, the NYPD said.
Powell, 49, was initially charged with attempted murder and two counts of of assault as a hate crime. He has pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
The case has now been designated a homicide, though upgraded charges were not yet filed, the NYPD said.
Powell, who has at least 15 prior busts dating back to 1988, claimed the victim attacked him first — and that video of the sickening assault was "a whole lot of bulls—t."
He was held on $100,000 cash bail at his arraignment. Ma, an out-of-work Chinese immigrant, was collecting cans at Third Avenue and 125th Street to help make ends meet when he was stomped.
Ma was taken to Harlem Hospital following the beating. His wife, Baozhen Chen, had feared her husband would not recover from his medically induced coma — and demanded justice for the father of her two children.