Two Asian people were attacked on the street in San Francisco on Wednesday – but one of them fought back, defending herself and injuring her attacker before he was arrested, police said.
The incident occurred just one day after eight people were killed, most of them Asian women, when a shooter opened fire in three spas in the Atlanta area. Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased dramatically throughout the pandemic, according to a report issued by Stop AAPI Hate several hours before the massacre.
A 39-year-old man, Steven Jenkins, has been arrested on suspicion of committing the unprovoked double assault, San Francisco police said. Witnesses said Jenkins attacked the two victims about 30 minutes after fighting again in a physical altercation in the United Nations Plaza area.
Jenkins allegedly approached an 83-year-old Asian man and assaulted him. According to police, a security guard chased Jenkins, who assaulted a 75-year-old Asian woman as she fled the first scene.
“It is believed that both assaults were not provoked,” said Officer Robert Rueca. “Investigators are working to determine if prejudice was a motivating factor in the incident.”
The woman, who was identified by her family as Xiao Zhen Xie, fought back, according to witnesses, and beat the suspect to save herself. A San Francisco CBS reporter who happened to be present during the incident was caught video of the aftermath.
The footage shows the woman sobbing and screaming at the man as she decorates visible facial injuries and carries a wooden plank. A suspect is seen handcuffed to a stretcher in the hospital and blood coming out of his mouth.
“You bum, why did you hit me?” Xie apparently told the man in Chinese.
“This bum, he hit me,” she told the crowd of spectators and emergency workers.
Just arrived on an attack on an elderly Asian woman in Market Street San Francisco. Attempt: I got more details
Police could not confirm details about how the woman repelled her attacker, citing an active investigation, but said the footage of the incident and CBS San Francisco’s reporting on it were accurate.
“From what I could see, she wanted more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her back,” Dennis O’Donnell, the reporter who filmed the video, said in an interview about the incident.
The suspect was taken to the hospital “due to an unrelated, prior medical condition,” Rueca said. The two victims were also transported with non-life-threatening injuries. The 83-year-old man who was assaulted has not been publicly identified.
Police have increased their patrols in parts of San Francisco with large Asian American populations as the attacks on the community continue.
“We are not new to these attacks on the Asian community – we are certainly aware of the potential for prejudice,” Rueca said.
Xiao Zhen Xie’s family set up a GoFundMe to cover her medical expenses, saying she had two black eyes, one of which was ‘unstoppably bleeding’ and that her wrist was swollen.
“She has been severely affected mentally, physically and emotionally,” her grandson John Chen wrote on the GoFundMe. “She also said she was afraid to leave her home in future.”
Xie spoke to CBS San Francisco after the attack, with her daughter, Dong-Mei Li, translating. According to her, the suspect randomly hit her in the eye while she was waiting for a traffic light to change. The trauma was so severe that she could not eat, Li said.
“Very traumatized, very scared, and this eye is still bleeding,” Li said. “The right eye can still see nothing and is still bleeding, and we have something to record the bleeding.”
Xie, who has lived in San Francisco for 26 years, fought back on pure instinct.
“She found the stick in the area and fought back,” Li said.
According to the report released by Stop AAPI Hate on Tuesday, Asian Americans reported at least 3,795 hate incidents throughout the pandemic. More than 44.5% of these incidents occurred in California, which has by far the largest Asian American population of any state.
In the first few months of 2021, many untouched attacks on Asian Americans took place – some deadly – in the San Francisco area. On March 12, Pak Ho, 75, died after being attacked and robbed by a suspect with a “history of victimizing elderly Asians.” On January 28, Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old Thai immigrant, died. a brain hemorrhage after an attacker knocked him to the ground.Other Asian Americans in the Bay have been beaten and robbed in recent weeks.
The rise in racist attacks, both on the street and on hateful rhetoric, against Asian Americans comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump blaming COVID-19 on China, calling the disease the ‘China Virus’ and ‘Kung’ Flu ‘. “He denied that his rhetoric was racist and continued to use the terms even after a reporter questioned him about the increase in assaults on Asian Americans.