But the overwhelming majority of hate-crime perpetrators are white.). ga('ads.send', { He graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelors of Science in Television-Radio. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Mr. Nawabi described Mr. Watson as someone who had struggled with anger. MonthanusRatanapakdee with her husband, Eric Lawson. After several weeks, the advocate replied that the office didnt have the budget to hire a translator. Still, at a time when demands for racial justice have rocked a demographically evolving nation, the killing of Mr. Vicha was notable for the galvanizing anger it brought to a diverse group that encompasses people of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian and Southeast Asian heritage. Many are outraged after an 84-year-old Asian man was killed in San Francisco, and the District Attorney, Chesa Boudin, justified the actions of the killer. Watson is accused in the deadly attack of Vicha Ratanapakdee in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28. Body camera footage of the encounter led police to identify him. She thought about Antoine, knowing there were people in his life who loved him. It was still early, Monthanus reminded herself, but she also couldnt shake the feeling that the world seemed to be moving on. Evan Sernoffsky reports. },false) A photograph of Vicha Ratanapakdee that hangs in his daughters home.CreditKevin Kunishi for The New York Times. In the past week the California Legislature approved $1.4 million in funding to track and research racist incidents against Asian-Americans. When her mother saw the video, she stiffened. . assault in Western Addition that led to the death an 84-year-old man, police said. They asked the state attorney generals office to help them track what they believed to be a growing number of episodes. News of a viral outbreak in Wuhan had started circulating in the international news media. Watson, the court documents state, had been cited for "reckless driving, speeding and failure to stop at a stop sign" in the hours before the attack. Mr. Vichas second shot was scheduled for Feb. 12, an appointment he would not live to make. Initial investigation by SIT/General Crimes Unit identified the male suspect as 19-year-old Antoine Watson of Daly City and the female associate as 20-year-old Maylasia Goo of Daly City. The mainstream media does not spotlight our stories enough, Nguyen said into the camera, urging her vast following to share the story and tag CNN and MSNBC. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. In reference to the alleged attacker Antoine Watson, Boudin told the Times that "It appears that the defendant was in some sort of a temper tantrum." . Breed went on to say that she was appearing with both Chief Scott and District Attorney Boudin to say that violence in San Francisco would not be tolerated and that any perpetrators would "be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," especially those who targeted children or the elderly. In several prime-time interviews, including on Nightline and CNN, Eric went on to suggest that Vichas death was not a random outlier but a result of one race targeting another. Several young people carried signs with an illustration of a 75-year-old Chinese woman who, a few weeks earlier, was punched by a white man and then fought back by whacking him with a wooden board. He must be happy now, because hes not coming back anymore! And sometimes, when they were alone and the guilt swelled inside Monthanus, she fell apart. Police arrested two people Saturday in connection with Thursday's filmed attack that left an elderly California man dead. Mayor London Breed and Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered condolences. I have no chance to talk, how Im feeling right now, how I deal with it every time I do laundry, every time I drive to work, she said, looking in her rearview mirror, tears streaming. His older daughter, Monthanus, described her father as a devoted Buddhist. Wheres Grandpa? Troy asked her. Chan shared a photo of the person he said attacked him, who appeared to be Black, with reporters. We also identified his female associate as 20-year-old Maylasia Goo also of Daly . Antoine Watson held in attack on 84-year-old victim. arrested and chargedwith murder and elder abuse. Anyone who thinks San Francisco is an easy touch, you need to think twice." . In an unprovoked attack, Antoine Watson, 19, charged at Vichar Ratanapakdee, 84, on Thursday during the senior's morning walk. Watson can be seen running up to Ratanapakdee and violently shoving him in video from SF CBS Local near the corner of Fortuna and Anza Vista. Ratanapakdee was on his morning walk last Thursday at around 8:28 a.m. in Anza Vista, San Francisco when Watson rushed towards the victim and pushed him to the ground. That he still had a life ahead of him. The footage is grainy and brief: A tall figure suddenly darts across a street and slams into a much smaller one; the smaller figure crumples onto the pavement and doesnt get back up; the white baseball cap flutters to the ground, like a leaf falling from a tree. After the last court hearing, Monthanus called the victims advocate assigned to her by the district attorneys office to request a Thai translator. That Antoine was still young. March 3, 2023 12:27 pm ET. Public safety is a lot bigger than the ability to arrest or prosecute someone, says Tinisch Hollins, who runs the advocacy group Californians for Safety and Justice. Lucas Manfredi is a general assignment reporter for Fox News. Then, on March 16, a white gunman in the Atlanta area drove to several businesses and shot eight people to death. While it does not change the legal definition of a hate crime, the legislation commits funds to fast-track federal reviews of hate-crime investigations and approves grants for local law enforcement agencies. A representative for the San Francisco Police Department told FOX News that the agency is unable to confirm that the documents obtained by Lim are police documents. The day after Monthanus and Erics first TV appearance, San Franciscos district attorney charged Antoine Watson, the 19-year-old accused of shoving Vicha to death, with murder and elder abuse. His killing came at a time when other disturbing images and reports were emerging from across the San Francisco Bay. According to the San Francisco District Attorney's office, Watson had been observed and contacted by San Francisco Police officers earlier that Thursday morning for traffic infractions resulting in a minor collision. Security footage showed the assailant R Just six days after taking office, President Biden issued amemorandumcondemning "inflammatory and xenophobic rhetoric" that has put Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) persons, families, communitiesand businesses at risk during the pandemic. As she watched the parade of flowers and ashes float out to sea, she spoke to him. reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader. "You will be held accountable by both the police and the District Attorney. a 91-year-old shoved to the ground in Chinatown in Oakland, Calif., a white gunman in the Atlanta area drove to several businesses and shot eight people to death. A young man in a gas mask and a bulletproof vest said he had flown in from New York City after seeing the video. Watson was arrested along with a female associate he was with at the time of the assault. We said, Dad, we are going to go back soon! Ms. Monthanus recalled. Monthanus pulled him close, from behind; she didnt want him to see her crying. College students, high schoolers and middle schoolers organized or attended rallies in their hometowns. Police pulled over and handcuffed Antoine Watson hours before he allegedly killed an 84-year-old Thai man in San Francisco's Anza Vista neighborhood last year, according to a timeline that . The way he greeted her with relief when she came home late from work. Any time a family suffers a violent crime, a homicide in particular, theres questions, Boudin told me. Owners of gun stores reported more Asian customers than ever before. She stepped out to check the front and the back of their building. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) { (The data, though incomplete, show that hate crimes against Asian Americans were more likely to be committed by nonwhite offenders than those against Hispanics or African Americans. Ratanapakdeewas walking in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on the morning of Jan.28 when he was violently shoved to the ground in whatBoudinreferred to as "a horrific, senseless attack". SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) - An 84-year-old California man is dead after a seemingly random daylight attack in the Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco, video from ABC 7 News shows. In late January 2020, a man died outside a restaurant in Sydney after collapsing from a heart attack. Here is a photo of Vicha Ratanapakdee, who was killed in a shocking attack last week in San Francisco. Antoine Watson, a 19-year-old resident of neighboring Daly City, was arrested two days after the attack and charged with . Monthanus knew she should find a counselor for herself, too. Due to the pandemic, the court had reopened at limited capacity to an enormous backlog. But Mr. Chan says he has tallied more than two dozen assaults against Asian-American victims in Chinatown, including two other people shoved by the assailant who knocked down Mr. Diaz. ga('ads.send', { It was the first court appearance of 19-year-old Daly City resident Antoine Watson since he was arrested for the assault this past weekend. He was arrested along with Maylasia Goo, 20 . ga('ads.send', { https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/magazine/vicha-ratanapakdee.html. (His mother is Mexican, and he identifies as mixed race; strangers often assume he is white. At one point, the couple agreed to stop going to rallies for a while. Titus, dressed in a black suit and a pair of his grandfathers leather loafers that fit tight around his growing feet, chased his little brother around the deck. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. His death helped awaken the nation to a rise in anti-Asian violence. In November, another old man spat in her direction as her sons rode their scooters by the bay. Antoine Watson, with murder and 20-year-old female friend, Maylasia Goo . window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotOnload', function(event) { }) In the footage, Ratanapakdee, who was originally from Thailand, can be seen walking in the driveway of a house when the suspect suddenly sprinted towards him and knocked him to the ground before casually walking away in the same direction he came from. The stories filled Monthanus with questions. For weeks, Monthanus Ratanapakdee urged her parents to please. But we dont want to give up, because unless everybodys safe in that community, nobody is., Lyslynn Lacoste, who runs a city program called BMAGIC and works with Wans group, told me that undoing misperceptions between communities had no quick fix. There were debates among Black residents about what contributed to the shortage of affordable housing, Lacoste says, but tension also took subtler, more pervasive forms the kind she could feel most recently at a neighborhood beauty-supply store when an Asian clerk followed her as she shopped. He told me that Watson lost his job and support structure during the pandemic; in addition to attending college classes and working at FedEx, he had previously gone to therapy and taken medication. When Ms. Monthanus expressed her desire to go to graduate school two decades ago, Mr. Vicha supported her decision to enroll in business school at the University of California, Berkeley. Monthanus arrived at the steps of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, an imposing concrete building that spans a city block, where Antoine Watson was scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing. She told her husband, Eric Lawson, who rushed home from the restaurant where he worked. Even inside the anti-Asian-hate movement, every expression of grief and resolution differed. Right, Mr. Vicha receiving the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. When a sibling bullies another sibling, and then they go to school, and then they bully other kids, its like a chain reaction., Then there was Monthanus and Eric. Eric also busied himself with emails to architects and building managers in Chinatown, where he was planning a mural a few blocks from the Dragon Gate. }); SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: A teenager charged in the brutal assault of an 84-year-old San Francisco man that was captured on video in January 2021, will remain in custody following a court hearing on Monday, February 15. San Francisco's district attorney charged Antoine Watson, the 19-year-old accused of shoving Vicha to death, with murder and elder abuse. That afternoon, the couple taped their first interview, with the KTVU reporter Evan Sernoffsky, near the courthouse steps. "These violent assaults have a devastating impact on our community as they are part of an alarming rise in anti-Asian American hate during the COVID-19 pandemic," Stop AAPI Hate co foundersManjusha Kulkarni and Cynthia Choi said in a joint statement. The trust-building really took us 10 years, Wan says. It was just the way that he answered the question that made me feel like he didnt really care about our emotions, about what we were asking about., Boudin, who couldnt discuss the particulars of the case, understood where Eric and Monthanus were coming from. A homicide detective gave his condolences and said they were planning to charge the attack as a murder. Monthanus and Eric had been busy arranging her fathers funeral while fielding phone calls and messages from family, friends and strangers. California lawmakers have approved$1.4 million in state funds to help Asian Americans report hate incidents following the recent uptick. Sometimes Titus would walk into her bedroom to watch TV, see her turn away and ask, Mom, are you crying? Sometimes she walked into a room to see her own mother turn away, sniffling and cheering: Its OK! Its like being bullied. Legal Statement. The incident was caught on camera, galvanizing the national Stop Asian Hate movement. In a New York Times article, Boudin says Antoine Watson was having "some sort of temper tantrum," a term more often used to describe toddlers, ABC7 reported. A teenager in San Francisco was allegedly caught on video while bum-rushing an 84-year-old man, who later died as a result of the shocking daytime attack. As the Lunar New Year approached in February, hundreds of people went out to protest the attacks. Believe Attack Was Racially Motivated., Vichas story joined a cluster of reports about attacks on Asian elders in four cities. But in practice, proving bias is difficult, especially when theres no explicit expression of it. Court documents give the victims name as Gilbert Diaz, and Carl Chan, a community leader and president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, said the victim was Latino. CONTACTS:. San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has sparked outrage on social media after telling the New York Times that 19-year-old Antoine Watson was "in some sort of a temper tantrum" when he . He died shortly after arrival in the hospital. On January 29, 2021, investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Watson for 245(a)1 PC - Assault with a Deadly Weapon and 368(b)1 PC - Elder Abuse causing . She wanted to keep him alive. Someone had been falsely claiming to reporters that he was Vichas son and spoke on behalf of the family about what would happen to his remains. Several people suggested that there was more to the video that went viral, which prompted Monthanus to walk around the block to knock on neighbors doors and ask if they would share their security-camera footage. Im a bad daughter, she would say. Klicken Sie auf Alle ablehnen, wenn Sie nicht mchten, dass wir und unsere Partner Cookies und personenbezogene Daten fr diese zustzlichen Zwecke verwenden. Officers arrested Antoine Watson on Saturday after serving a warrant at a Daly City home. A photograph of Vicha Ratanapakdee that hangs in his daughters home. We're less than two weeks away from the start of NFL free agency, which begins at 4 p.m. The day after Monthanus and Eric's first TV appearance, San Francisco's district attorney charged Antoine Watson, the 19-year-old accused of shoving Vicha to death, with murder and elder abuse . The Oakland attacks came as many in the Bay Area began changing their social media photos to bring awareness to the seemingly unprovoked killing of an 84-year-old Thai man in San Francisco last month. Monthanus Ratanapakdee praying for her father, Vicha, at the Nagara Dhamma Temple in San Francisco on Monday. But once he does, we should work out some kind of situation where we could forgive somehow and move on with our life. hitType: 'event', She had always looked to her father when something troubled her conscience. The segment ran with Vichas photo and the headline Family of 84-Year-Old Killed in S.F. He was also on a waiting list to become a registered gun owner. She clutched a few sheets of paper in one hand. Will Lex Ham, right, and Max Leung, center, distributed information on how to report a hate crime in San Franciscos Chinatown this month. A lawyer for Antoine Watson, the defendant, argued that the case should be charged as involuntary manslaughter because he had no intent to kill. Maylasia Goo also arrested. They scrubbed the sidewalk with brushes and wondered why no one from the city had come to do the same. window.adsContainer = {"positionAfterTitle":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position2":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position3":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Below_Next_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position4":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position5":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle1_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position6":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle2_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position7":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle3_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position8":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle4_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position9":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position10":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle6_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position11":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle7_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position12":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle8_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position13":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle9_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position14":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle10_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position15":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle11_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position16":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle12_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"positionTop":{"code":"Article_Desktop_970x250_Header_Rel","isOrganicUserAd":false,"max_width":970,"max_height":250},"positionBottom":{"code":"Article_Desktop_Sidebar_Bottom_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":300,"max_height":600},"positionBottomRight":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280}} Saturday evening at approximately 8:45 p.m., officers served a search warrant on the 500 block of Lisbon Street in Daly City and located Watson and Goo, who were arrested without incident. Our seniors are afraid to walk their own streets, Mr. Chan said. One of them, a young organizer, told them about the Asian Americans who had marched beside him last summer and said he grew up with Asian neighbors and lately felt that everything is so separated. Another simply laid his hand over his chest during an impromptu speech and, looking at Monthanus, said, My heart goes out to you., Monthanus hasnt known what to really make of these gestures. But the legal tampering window opens two days before that on March 13, where teams will be able to negotiate with free agents before the official start of the 2023 season. Officers discovered an 84-year-old man lying on the sidewalk, rendered aid and summoned medics to transport the victim to a hospital for life-threatening injuries. San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin hassparked outrage on social mediaafter telling the New York Times that 19-year-old AntoineWatsonwas "in some sort of a temper tantrum" when he allegedly attacked84-year-oldThai immigrant Vichar Ratanapakdee. Please enter valid email address to continue. Vicha and his first grandson, Titus Lawson, in 2009. Police say their suspect Antoine Watson, 19, attacked the senior along Anza Vista and Fortuna . Antoine Watson appears in court during a previous hearing. But the steps were nearly empty. Or is this my trauma? Why was no one intervening? A test soon showed that they had H1N1, a common strain of influenza, and their symptoms subsided within a week. Believe Attack Was Racially Motivated., Amanda Nguyen, a prominent activist, shared Sernoffskys report. He disliked the chilly and wet San Francisco winter and missed his favorite southern Thai dishes and his extended family and friends. A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled Friday that the man accused of murdering an 84-year-old Thai immigrant a case that invigorated a movement to stop violence . Tuesday morning, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney Chesa Boudin denounced the recent rise in violent crimes in the city, particularly the fatal assaults on Ratanapakdee and 76-year-old private investigator Jack Palladino. . Then one day, after knocking on a neighbors door to ask about their surveillance footage, she returned to her car to find Troy crying in the back seat. Throughout 2020, multiple strangers had come at her seemingly out of nowhere. Vicha had lost so much blood by then that even if a second operation succeeded, he would almost certainly lose his most basic functions for the rest of his life. The streets were quiet. eventAction: 'click_adunit' Around midnight, after Eric and the boys went to bed, the two women drove to the corner with a bucket, gloves and a dish brush. In the Bay Area, where Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up a quarter of the population, stories like Vichas sparked at least two opposing narratives. But he says there is no evidence to suggest it was motivated by racial animus. In March, Jeung says, Stop AAPI Hate received roughly 2,800 reports, about the same number he received in all of 2020. who was violently pushed and killed by Antoine Watson in . . Monthanus agreed, even as her worry turned to panic. A judge in San Francisco ruled Friday that Antoine Watson will stand trial in the brutal death of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. According to the San Francisco District Attorney's office, Watson had been observed and contacted by San Francisco Police officers earlier that morning for traffic infractions resulting in a minor collision and was issued a citation. Youre not doing it right, her mother snapped at one point, grabbing the brush. Elderly Thai man in San Francisco killed by teen in unprovoked attack. But leaders of the Bay Area Asian community say crime statistics are misleading because Asian-American residents, especially immigrants, often do not report assaults or robberies out of mistrust of the system or language barriers. When I see photos of these Asian elders who have been attacked, the actor Simu Liu wrote in Variety, I see the embodiment of my own parents journey; their dreams and their struggles, their sorrow and their unwavering optimism. . Video footage played during witness testimony this week shows Antoine Watson . They sailed toward the Golden Gate Bridge, the choppy waters jostling them as they chanted the Five Precepts. Antoine Watson, 19, has been held in County Jail since being arrested Jan. 30 for allegedly charging into 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee two days earlier in the Anza Vista neighborhood. At one point, one group may emerge because theyve got greater population, and another group feels pushed out feels like they dont have a voice anymore, the Rev. Stories like Vichas inspired some to start neighborhood-patrol groups to accompany elders on their walks to and from home, scan the streets for suspicious activity and, in some cases, call the police to intervene. In the appeal, the family asked residents in San Francisco to contact the local district attorney Chesa Boudin to ensure that Antoine Watson and Ms Maylasia Goo, a 19-year-old woman charged as an accessory to the crime, face the full force of the law for what they describe as a racially motivated hate crime.