Cambridge man to appear in court later this month after unprovoked attacks on Asian-American women

BOSTON, January 17, 2023 —A Cambridge man will appear in Boston Municipal Court Central Division on January 26 for a pre-trial hearing on civil rights and assault charges stemming from random attacks on two Asian-American women in Chinatown and Downtown Crossing on April 2, 2022, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

ALEXANDR IVANENKO, 53, is charged with assault and battery on a person over 60 causing injury, assault and battery, two counts of assault and battery to intimidate and two counts of civil rights violation with injury. Ivanenko was arraigned in December and ordered held in lieu of $5,000 bail.  He was also ordered to stay away from the victims and the locations of the attacks.

Ivanenko approached the two victims, unknown to him, hours apart on April 2 and punched both in the face.  The first attack occurred at about 1:14 p.m. as the victim, an elderly Asian-American woman, was walking near Marginal Street in Chinatown.  The victim told police a man punched her and then fled. The second attack, also on an Asian-American woman, took place at about 3:24 p.m. in Downtown Crossing.  The victim told police she was punched by a man who then fled.

Both victims provided descriptions of their attacker to police.  Police viewed surveillance video from both incidents and determined that the attacker in both was the same man.  Further investigation identified Ivanenko as the attacker in both incidents. Warrants subsequently issued and Ivanenko, who is in custody for an unrelated offense, was arraigned in December.

District Attorney Kevin Hayden, who expanded his office’s civil rights unit last year, noted that the United States has seen a sharp increase in crimes against Asian-American in recent years, including a 339-percent spike in such crimes in 2021.

“The attacks against these two women were utterly unprovoked and are an intolerable local manifestation of a disturbing trend we’re witnessing across the nation. These incidents provide a stark example of the way careless and inflammatory national rhetoric can lead to dangerous local repercussions,” Hayden said.

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications