Two Asians were attacked on the street on Wednesday in San Francisco – but one of them retaliated, defending himself and injuring his assailant before he was arrested, police said.
The incident came just a day after eight people died, mostly Asian women, when a sniper opened fire inside three spas in the Atlanta area. Anti-Asian hate crimes saw an extreme increase during the pandemic, according to a report released by Stop AAPI Hate just hours before the massacre.
A 39-year-old man, Steven Jenkins, was arrested on suspicion of committing an aggravated double unprovoked assault, San Francisco police said. Witnesses said Jenkins attacked the two victims about 30 minutes after entering another physical strife in the United Nations Plaza area.
Jenkins reportedly 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 while fleeing the first scene.
“It is believed that both attacks were not provoked,” said police officer Robert Rueca. “Investigators are working to determine whether prejudice was a motivating factor in the incident.”
The woman, identified by her family as Xiao Zhen Xie, struck back, beating the suspect to save herself, according to witnesses. A CBS San Francisco reporter who happened to be present at the time of the incident was captured aftermath video.
The footage shows the woman sobbing and screaming at the man while covering visible facial wounds and carrying what appeared to be a wooden plank. A suspect is seen handcuffed to a hospital stretcher and bleeding from the mouth.
“You bum, why did you hit me?” Xie told the man in Chinese.
“This bum hit me,” she told the crowd of onlookers and emergency workers.
I just discovered an attack on an elderly Asian woman on Market Street in San Francisco. Effort I got more details
Police were unable to confirm details of how the woman defended herself against her attacker, citing an active investigation, but said the images of the incident and CBS San Francisco’s reports about him were accurate.
“From what I could see, she wanted more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her,” said Dennis O’Donnell, the reporter who filmed the video, in an interview about the incident.
The suspect was taken to hospital “for an unrelated prior medical condition,” said Rueca. The two victims were also transported with non-life-threatening injuries. The 83-year-old man who was assaulted was not publicly identified.
The police increased their patrols in parts of San Francisco with large populations of Asian Americans, as 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,” said Rueca.
Xiao Zhen Xie’s family created a GoFundMe to cover their medical expenses, saying that she has two black eyes, one of which “is bleeding non-stop” and that her wrist is swollen.
“She was severely affected mentally, physically and emotionally,” wrote her grandson, John Chen, on GoFundMe. “She also stated that she is afraid to leave the house from now on.”
Xie spoke to CBS San Francisco after the attack, with his daughter, Dong-Mei Li, translating. She said the suspect punched her in the eye randomly while she waited for the traffic light to change. The trauma was so severe that she was unable to eat, Li said.
“Very traumatized, very scared and this eye is still bleeding,” said Li. “The right eye still can’t see anything and it still bleeds, and we have something to absorb the bleeding.”
Xie, who has lived in San Francisco for 26 years, fought out of pure instinct.
“She found the stick in the area and fought,” said Li.
According to the report released by Stop AAPI Hate on Tuesday, Asian Americans reported at least 3,795 hate incidents during the pandemic. More than 44.5% of these incidents occurred in California, which has by far the largest Asian-American population in any state.
Many unprovoked attacks against Asian Americans – some deadly – took place in the San Francisco area only in the early months of 2021. On March 12, Pak Ho, 75, died after being attacked and robbed by a suspect with a “history victimization of elderly Asian people. “On January 28, Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old Thai immigrant, died of cerebral hemorrhage after an attacker threw him to the ground. Other Asian Americans in the bay area have been beaten and robbed in recent weeks.
The rise in racist attacks, both in the streets and in hate rhetoric, against Asian Americans comes in the wake of former President Donald Trump who blames China for the COVID-19, calling the disease “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 attacks on Americans of Asian origin.