Police arrest Hispanic suspect in Harlem hate crime

NJ State police report that they, in collaboration with the NYPD, have apprehended a suspect. Melissa Mark-Viverito said that the person in custody is Jason Commisso, previously identified as a suspect in the assaults targeting Asian-Americans in East Harlem. According to New Jersey State Police, they were working with New York authorities to track a suspect in the string of assaults targeting Asian-Americans in East Harlem. NJ state troopers located the suspect on a Greyhound bus on the New Jersey Turnpike heading southbound in Gloucester. They stopped the bus and took the suspect into custody without incident. He was recently moved from Morristown station to Gloucenster County Jail, where he was charged by the NJ police with being a fugitive from justice and is "sitting in jail for a bit until the extradition process [to take him to the NYPD] works its way out," NJ state police said. Previously the NYPD identified Jason Commisso, 34, as a suspect in those assaults. They have not confirmed that he is the individual currently in custody. However, Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has been active in responding to these assaults, released a statement "in response to the arrest of Jason Commisso." "Today we are all breathing a sigh of relief as the suspect behind eight vicious muggings of Asian American East Harlem residents has finally been apprehended by police," Mark-Viverito said. Commisso is described as a Hispanic male, 6-foot-1 and 200 lbs, with brown hair and hazel eyes.