An elderly Asian woman is said to have pummeled a man and sent him to the hospital after he attacked her without provocation in San Francisco on Wednesday.
The 79-year-old woman, who has not been publicly named, beat an unidentified man who attacked her until he was bloodied, witnesses told KPIX 5. Video of the incident showed a crowd of people gathered around the woman as she held an ice pack to a gash on her face and yelled in Chinese at the suspected attacker, who was handcuffed to a stretcher.
“You bum, why did you bully me?” the woman yelled in Chinese.
“This bum, he bullied me,” she continued while facing the crowd. “He bullied me, this bum.”
The attacker, who was said to be 39 years old, was arrested after he assaulted an 83-year-old Asian male and fled on foot, the San Francisco Police Department told the Washington Examiner in an email. He struck the 79-year-old woman while fleeing a security guard who witnessed the first attack and was later detained, SFPD added.
Both of the Asian victims were transported to a local hospital after the elderly woman told bystanders the man punched her without provocation as she leaned against a light pole. The suspect, however, was “transported to a local hospital for an unrelated, prior medical condition,” police said.
“Both assaults are believed to have been unprovoked,” the department wrote. “Investigators are working to determine if bias was a motivating factor in the incident. This investigation is active and ongoing.”
Just came upon an attack on an elderly Asian woman on Market Street San Francisco. Effort I got more details pic.twitter.com/5o8r0eeHE2
— Dennis O’Donnell (@DennisKPIX) March 17, 2021
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The incident followed the apprehension of Robert Aaron Long, 21, who police said shot and killed eight people in three Georgia Asian-owned spas on Tuesday.
Long’s arrest reignited scrutiny from the U.S. public relating to Asian hate crimes, which have risen since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, because six of the eight victims who died appeared to be of Asian descent. Law enforcement has not indicated that Tuesday’s shooting was a hate crime, instead suggesting Long was suffering from sex addiction and targeted the businesses to “eliminate” temptation.
President Biden also declined to name a motive for the shooting, saying he is making “no connection at this moment to the motivation of the killer.”
On Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed directed police in her city to “increase patrols in areas with a high number of Asian residents, visitors, and businesses immediately.”
“No one should have to live in fear that their race or ethnicity could make them a victim,” she added.
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Breed’s law enforcement directive was mirrored by New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, all of which bolstered police presence in Asian neighborhoods on Wednesday.
At least two Asian men, 94-year-old Vichar Ratanapakdee and 75-year-old Pak Ho, have died in California from assaults in recent weeks, and on Monday, 59-year-old Danny Yu Chang was severely beaten in San Francisco, according to KPIX.
