An elderly woman who was attacked on Market Street in San Francisco on Wednesday – the latest victim of a wave of attacks against Asians in the bay area – turned the tables on her attacker, leaving him with injuries that required a trip to the hospital. .
Xiao Zhen Xie spoke openly with CBS San Francisco about the attack on his elderly retirement home in the city, with his daughter, Dong-Mei Li, helping with the translation.
“Very traumatized, very scared and this eye is still bleeding,” said Li to KPIX 5. “The right eye is still unable to see anything and (is) still bleeding and we have something to absorb the bleeding.”
Her mother was holding an ice pack to her face at the scene of the attack. Police said both the attacker and the victim were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Surrounded by the family, the 76-year-old woman, who has lived in San Francisco for 26 years, said she was very shaken and that the attack was totally unprovoked. His immediate instinct was to fight.
She said she was just waiting at a traffic light when the suspect suddenly punched her in the left eye.
Immediately, his instincts began to defend himself. While she suffered injuries and demanded medical attention, it was her attacker who ended up on a stretcher. Li says, “She found the stick in the area and fought.”
Xie’s grandson John Chen told CBS San Francisco that his grandmother “is extremely terrified. She is terrified even to leave.”
CBS San Francisco sports director Dennis O’Donnell happened to come by during his morning run.
“There was a guy on a stretcher and a frustrated and angry woman with a stick in her hand,” said O’Donnell. “From what I could see, she wanted more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her up.”
Witnesses told the station that they saw the woman punching the attacker.
In a video taken at the scene, the suspect is handcuffed to a stretcher with a bloody face. The crying victim seems to scold him and swing what appears to be a wooden board to him as he is taken away.
“You bum, why did you hit me?” the woman said in Chinese.
She then turned to the crowd of people who gathered and exclaimed, “That bum, he hit me”, while she lifted the stick she was holding and sobbing. “He hit me, that bum,” she repeated.
Law enforcement officials also say there has been a second victim before, an 83-year-old Asian man.
A 39-year-old man is being investigated for both attacks, and police say he is trying to determine whether prejudice was a factor.
The family opened a GoFundMe account to help with medical expenses.