A Chinese immigrant who was brutally attacked in New York City last year has died from his injuries

• Yao Pan Ma, 61, died on New Year's Eve following a brutal attack in April 2021.
• Ma was attacked while he was collecting cans to support his family after he lost his job.

A Chinese man who was brutally attacked in New York City last year died as a result of his injuries, the New York City Police Department said.

Yao Pan Ma, 61, died on New Year's Eve after he was assaulted in April 2021, the NYPD confirmed to Insider.

"The incident has now been deemed a Homicide. The investigation remains ongoing," an NYPD spokesperson told Insider in an email.

Surveillance video of the April 23, 2021, attack showed an assailant striking Ma from behind, knocking him to the ground, and proceeding to stomp on his head. Ma was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and was placed in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator.

Jarrod Powell, 49, was arrested and charged days later for attempted murder and two counts of hate crime assault. Powell's next court date is scheduled for February 10. Police told the New York Daily News they expected Powell would now be charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and hate crime charges, according to the New York Post.

Ma was attacked as he was collecting cans to support his family after he had lost his job at a restaurant during the pandemic, his wife told the New York Daily News at the time.

"He was just trying to help out the family. He had no bad intentions. He wouldn't cause trouble with other people in his neighborhood," Baozhen Chen told the outlet.

The couple moved to the US from China in 2018, Chen told CBS New York.

Powell remains jailed at Rikers Island on a $100,000 bond, according to the New York Daily News.