Their younger son, Troy, a bright and playful 8-year-old who is autistic, had become more easily agitated during the lockdown and often stomped and shouted. Monthanus gave the nurse her fathers name, his medical-record number and his six prescriptions, which included a high dose of blood thinners. Im not a cop. Notifications can be turned off anytime from browser settings. 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. I want to know why, she said. As they waited for Antoines hearing to start, Monthanus and Eric watched from the front row of the gallery as the judge heard a series of other cases. She told me, Go wash the blood right away, Monthanus says. Security footage, circulated widely on the internet, shows a man running towards Vicha and throwing him violently to the ground before turning around and fleeing, according to KTVU Fox 2 News.. Vicha died in hospital in the early hours of Saturday and soon after, police reportedly charged a 19-year-old man, Antoine Watson, with murder and 20-year-old female friend, Maylasia Goo, with being an . Monthanus and Eric had been busy arranging her fathers funeral while fielding phone calls and messages from family, friends and strangers. I want to know what happened. Its not because we feel bad, Monthanus told me one evening while sitting on the bed where her father used to sleep, Titus playing video games nearby. Ratanapakdee is seen walking in the driveway of a home when the suspect barrels him into the victim violently, knocking him to the ground before the suspect casually walks away in the same direction he came from. SF teen who killed 84-year-old man by shoving him to pavement pleads not guilty. }); Eric said the photo, which was taken from behind and does not show a face, made the person look hateful. I kept my promise, Dad, she said. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Please enter valid email address to continue. After reading about an Asian American teenager in the Los Angeles area who was hospitalized in February after being bullied about Covid, Jeung contacted colleagues at two advocacy groups in California. Chan shared a photo of the person he said attacked him, who appeared to be Black, with reporters. Instead, he paused for a moment and turned right, as though whatever caught his eye made him decide to change course. Hundreds of people hold a rally Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, in San Francisco and five other U.S. cities to remember the death of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. media-tech companies with hubs around the world. Less than 24 hours later, a spokesman for the Cherokee County sheriff reduced the rampage to the act of a sex addict having a really bad day; then it was revealed that the same spokesman reportedly promoted T-shirts calling the coronavirus an IMPORTED VIRUS FROM CHY-NA. The rage boiled over. When Monthanus talked about these incidents, how the outside world didnt feel safe anymore, her father would ask, Is it really that bad? These shifts werent always visible, but they were there beneath the influx or exodus, beneath the mistrust and grievances, beneath what each person, Black or Asian, took away from the images of attacks flooding the news. It was still early, Monthanus reminded herself, but she also couldnt shake the feeling that the world seemed to be moving on. On Twitter and elsewhere, Asian Americans lit up their feeds with an outpouring of grief and rage. But, we can't solve a problem without knowing how big it is,"San Francisco assemblymember and chair of the state's budget committee,Phil Ting, said in a statement. Their landlord had sent a series of noise complaints and eviction warnings. I met Monthanus one breezy afternoon in April at Wat Nagara Dhamma, a Buddhist temple outfitted inside a small two-story house across the street from Golden Gate Park. 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. "But when you cross that line, when you commit murder, when you take someone's life like that, we as a city and as a society have to hold you accountable for your actions. Hi! he shouted over and over. A few steps away, she noticed a dark stain at the end of a driveway. On the far side of the bridge, where the bay meets the Pacific, the engine stopped. He was also on a waiting list to become a registered gun owner. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotOnload', function(event) { pg.acq.push(function() { Watson is accused in the deadly attack of Vicha Ratanapakdee in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28. Eric and Monthanus being interviewed by a local TV station outside the Hall of Justice in San Francisco in July. }); Vicha and his first grandson, Titus Lawson, in 2009. He often lightened the mood after she argued with her husband, teasing that his daughter talked too much. Elderly Thai man in San Francisco killed by teen in unprovoked attack. }); She felt similarly snubbed after asking the advocate about applying for compensation for lost wages. Otherwise, her mother believed, Vichas soul couldnt leave the earth and start its journey toward the afterlife. . Thats when I was like: This is more than some kind of accident or robbery or assault. But he also suspects that the numbers reflect an animus that only deepened during lockdown. Watson, the suspect identified in Ratanapakdee's murder,wasarrested and chargedwith murder and elder abuse. As she replayed the footage again and again, Monthanus kept coming back to the same conclusion. He was booked on suspicion of murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. By William McCurry. Now they wanted action. The grandmother of a teen who senselessly pushed and killed a Thai grandfather has said her grandson should walk free. Three days later an attacker shoved a 91-year-old man in Oaklands Chinatown to the ground, another video that rocketed around the internet. Body camera footage of the encounter led officers to identify Watson and a female associate he was with at the time of the assault. 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. Any other narrative is false, misleading, and divisive. Nawabi added that Watson comes from a biracial family background and had no knowledge of Mr. Ratanapakdees race or vulnerabilities since the elderly man was wearing a mask, hat, sweater and jeans. . At a vigil in Madison Park in Oakland the week after the Atlanta shootings, a mother stood with her young son, holding a sign with Vichas face on it. His death helped awaken the nation to a rise in anti-Asian violence. SAN FRANCISCO -- A suspect has been taken into custody following a deadly explosion and fire Thursday at a home in San Francisco's Sunset District that police said was being used as a clandestine drug lab.San Francisco police identified the suspect as 53-year-old Darron Price of San Francisco. Video footage shows the teen running at Ratanapakdee and pushing him over, knocking him to the ground. Can I see my father? she asked. 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. 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. 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. The video shows that the elderly man had no opportunity to protect himself, Assistant District Attorney Sean Connolly wrote in a motion seeking to detain Watson. In the past week the California Legislature approved $1.4 million in funding to track and research racist incidents against Asian-Americans. Captured on a neighbors security camera, the video of the attack was watched with horror around the world. For months Mr. Vicha had been pining to return to Thailand but was unable to because of the pandemic. hitType: 'event', They asked the state attorney generals office to help them track what they believed to be a growing number of episodes. A local ABC News affiliate had posted footage from a surveillance camera. For Mr. Vicha, who stood 5 feet 6 inches and weighed 113 pounds, the attack was fatal. Jaeah Lee is a magazine journalist based in San Francisco, with a focus on criminal justice. From the front row, Monthanus fixed her gaze on him as he walked slowly to a seat near the gallery. Im not a judge. ga('ads.send', { Otherwise youre going to have that forever. That Antoine was still young. eventAction: 'click_ads' The hearing was brief and procedural; a trial date has yet to be set. The San Francisco District Attorney has filed murder charges and elder abuse causing death charges against the 19-year-old suspect in the case, Antoine Watson, calling the crime a "brutal . In the . In the next life, I hope Ill get to be your daughter again. Lucas Manfredi is a general assignment reporter for Fox News. stay inside. 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. Antoine turned around and smiled again, until the door closed on him. } Watson and his associate, 20-year-old Malaysia Goo, were arrested on January 30, 2021. There had been so many attacks since the one on her father. During one appointment, the therapist asked if he felt angry, and he replied in that sheepish preteen way, I dont know. Monthanus knew the extra sessions were probably a lot, on top of school, weekend Thai and coding classes and the therapist he already sees to manage his A.D.H.D. An uneasiness had hung over her ever since a mob descended on the Capitol early that month, though really, people had been acting crazy for a year. ALSO READ: San Francisco Mayor, Police Chief, DA Condemn Fatal Assaults On Seniors; Vow To Address Violence. It was heartbreaking. Another was that such a pattern was not only false, but that the belief in it was a racist misperception. It's common sense, and we knew his intention. Among the most alarming were the stories of a 57-year-old Asian woman who was pushed off a railway platform onto the tracks, and an 83-year-old Asian man who died from a head injury after being assaulted by a group of boys. 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}} She added thatRatanapakdee's family was "horrified" when she relayed the information. "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. In order to raise 10 children in the San Francisco Bay Area, we should assume Antoine Watson's parents make at least $300,000 a year. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. There is outrage over San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin's description of the man police say pushed over and killed an 84-year-old in San Francisco. How could it have been prevented? A test soon showed that they had H1N1, a common strain of influenza, and their symptoms subsided within a week. }) Ms. Monthanus says she and her family will charter a boat under the Golden Gate Bridge and scatter some into the Pacific Ocean. If he had been murdered, Monthanus asked Eric, why wasnt it on the news? In February, two joggers, women, yelled something about germs at her older son as he played on a dock with a friend. Video footage shows the teen running at Ratanapakdee and pushing him over, knocking him to the ground. Asian Americans in San Francisco are leading the campaign to recall the city's far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin on June 7. . by Anh L. Monthanus didnt always agree with her father, but she loved his spirit. She had always looked to her father when something troubled her conscience. 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. For weeks, Monthanus Ratanapakdee urged her parents to please. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/us/asian-american-hate-crimes.html. ", When asked outside the courtroom what she wanted to see happen, Watson's grandmother said, "To see him walk out this door like I'm walking out right now.". ga('ads.send', { 'Very open to the idea': Julia Wandelt takes DNA test to verify if she is missing Swiss girl Livia Schepp, Kayla Lemieux: Teacher with prosthetic Z-cup breasts suspended WITH PAY after pics show her dressed as man, Michael Schneider: Psychic detective gives '100%' verdict on whether Julia Wandelt is Madeleine McCann, Lindsay Clancy case: Psychologist reveals psychosis red flags family members could have spotted, 'I'd be horrified if my kids did that': Internet slams eight-year-old's pregnant mom for enabling 'disgusting' behavior. Monthanus wanted to speak to the judge, too. One hundred days after her fathers death, Monthanus boarded a boat with Eric, their sons and a few friends. The segment ran with Vichas photo and the headline Family of 84-Year-Old Killed in S.F. One month after the Atlanta shootings, a white gunman killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. pg.acq.push(function() { Let it go. The amulet, a precious family heirloom, will be passed to the next generation, Ms. Monthanus said. In each case, the suspects were Black. 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. }); 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 Mayor London Breed, joined by several other elected officials including City Attorney David Chiu, State Senator Scott Wiener, and Supervisors Catherine Stefani and Rafael Mandelman, led the crowd in marching and chanting slogans. A San Francisco judge has ruled that a man accused of killing an 84-year-old Thai grandfather will stand trial. Monthanus and Eric posed for photos and signed a petition to recall Chesa Boudin, as people stopped to greet them with elbow bumps and condolences. She clutched a few sheets of paper in one hand. The nurse who picked up, however, only had more questions. They scrubbed the sidewalk with brushes and wondered why no one from the city had come to do the same. The neighborhood of Anza Vista, tucked on a hilltop away from traffic, was usually quiet. In the absence of any sense of resolution, the couple began searching for clues on their own. It's not clear Watson's motivation. }); At one point, the couple agreed to stop going to rallies for a while. If Watson is convicted of murder, he could face 25 years to life in state prison. First published on February 8, 2021 / 3:17 PM. Its the everyday little microaggressions and little nuances thats harder to tackle.. another video that rocketed around the internet. Police said they were quickly able to identify Watson as the assault suspect. Amy Ratanapakdee thanked San Francisco police for quickly finding and arresting 19-year-old Antoine Watson and 20-year-old Malaysia Goo for her father's attack and subsequent death. Investigators interviewed some 100 people and reviewed 175,000 computer files, some of which indicated that the gunman had visited white-supremacist websites. An 84-year-old man was killed after he was brutally attacked on a San Francisco street. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. A witness told police officers that Mr. Watson said something to the effect of What are you looking at? A security camera located inside a neighbors apartment captured Mr. Watson charging across the pavement toward Mr. Vicha, who briefly turned to his assailant before the impact. 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. Another witness said he heard a voice yelling: Why you looking at me? "Look, I believe in second chances. "The rise in hate incidents against Asian Americans during the pandemic is alarming. ga('ads.send', { It appears that the defendant was in some sort of a temper tantrum, Mr. Boudin said. As the Lunar New Year approached in February, hundreds of people went out to protest the attacks. The first one involved Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old San Francisco man of Thai descent, who was on his routine morning walk in late January when a man in a hoodie charged in his direction and . By then, Boudin had told reporters that there was no evidence from the police suggesting that Vichas death was motivated by racial animus. In March, just before the country went into lockdown, a woman swung at Monthanus outside a hospital; she ducked the punch before running across the street. I have this weird, stupid fantasy, Eric said. She said: You are not a victim. San Francisco police arrested 19-year-old Antoine Watson days after the attack. She lowered her head and opened her palms to touch the rug three times. . We are one of the worlds fastest growing Fox News Flash top headlines are here. As Vicha recovered from each operation, Monthanus had slept on the floor next to his bed, comforting him through the pain. At the time of the attack, Mr. Vicha was only months away from being able to return to Thailand. Ratanapakdee's head hit the pavement as he fell. After Vicha died, Eric says, he saw so many videos, video after video of attacks in the news. So we created our own website. (The California attorney generals office collects data on hate crimes in the state but not other cases involving verbal harassment, for example, which often dont constitute crimes.). I think a lot of that grief and anger and scapegoating continues to be directed toward Asians.. Knowing what happened with SARS, how Asians were going to get shunned, harassed, he says, referring to the 2003 outbreak, I was just personally and sociologically alerted to racism., Jeung set up search alerts for Asian American and discrimination. The results confirmed his fears. Within one week of the websites start, Stop AAPI Hate received 673 reports of verbal and physical attacks, as well as other forms of harassment, like spitting, coughing and online threats. The incident was caught on camera, galvanizing the national Stop Asian Hate movement. ), The next morning, Eric called the tip lines for several local news stations and left messages for reporters, inviting them to the Hall of Justice, where he and Monthanus were scheduled to meet with homicide detectives. A few hours after speaking with the nurse, a doctor called to ask permission to insert a catheter into a vein in his neck and drill a small hole into his skull, to release pressure from bleeding. This unfortunate assault has to do with a break in the mental health of a teenager. On her drive home, Monthanus thought about a defendant she saw earlier in the courtroom. After her sons Zoom classes on Jan. 28, Monthanus began to worry about where her father was. All rights reserved. There was no longer any way to ignore the violence that was happening to people who look like us, Mr. Ham said. A photograph of Vicha Ratanapakdee that hangs in his daughters home.CreditKevin Kunishi for The New York Times. And you have to take responsibility for the pain and the suffering you caused.". What kind of person would do this? Hes 19 years old to be in jail. 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 . On the morning of Jan. 28, when Monthanus and the children were still asleep, he prepared to head out. hitType: 'event', She thought about Antoine, knowing there were people in his life who loved him. Watson is accused in the deadly attack of Vicha Ratanapakdee in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28. LAPD INVESTIGATES KOREATOWN ASSAULT ON AIR FORCE VETERAN DENNY KIM AS POSSIBLE HATE CRIME, According to theTimes, Boudin saidthatRatanapakdee'sdeath was heinous, but that there is no evidence to suggest the attackwas motivated by racial animus. His brother, Surachai Ratanapakdee, 89, now the only surviving sibling of eight children, remembered Mr. Vicha as studious and curious about the world outside the rice paddies, watermelon fields and orchards of the family farm. However, his comment to the Timeshassparked the hashtags#JusticeForVicha and #StopAsianHate on social media, which come amid a startling increase in hate incidentsagainst Asian Americans across the United States. Im not a lawyer. Monthanus could now see her father enter the frame as he climbed up the hill and to a corner where he would have continued straight. He was arrested along with Maylasia Goo, 20 . . Monthanus wailed softly. Ratanapakdee died after sustaining severe injuries. SAN FRANCISCOAntoine Watson, 19, who was arrested on January 30 for the deadly assault on an elderly man, 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee, was held without bail after a court hearing on Monday, February 8. Nawabi described the incident as an impulsive unmotivated assault that resulted from the mental-health breakdown of a teenager. When she came back in, she noticed his tablet was gone. A petite 84-year-old with soft white hair, Vicha Ratanapakdee was a lifelong Buddhist, the kind of person who embraced the world with open arms. She could feel the weight of the pandemic starting to lift, but where there had once been anticipation, she now felt dread. Ratanapakdee was walking in the Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco on the morning of January 28 when 19-year-old Antoine Watson ran across the street and violently shoved him to the ground. Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year old immigrant from Thailand, was preparing to go on his early morning walk in the quiet Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco on Saturday, January 28, 2021. 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. I know its not a scientific poll or whatever. The responses confirmed a thought in his mind all the same. ET on March 15. Amanda Nguyen, a prominent activist, shared Sernoffskys report in a viral Instagram video, along with two others, one about a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman who was robbed in San Jose and another about a 61-year-old Filipino man whose face was slashed with a box cutter on the New York subway. 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. Antoine Watson, a 19-year-old resident of Daly City, made his first court appearance at the Hall of Justice after being taken into custody . But Jeung grew wary when a doctor asked him if he had recently been to China, and again when he learned that his relatives had been marooned at a hotel near the airport after being told they couldnt board their flight back home. Monthanus wore a black wool cloak over a pleated dress that flew up as the boat pulled away from the dock. 19-year-old Antoine Watson, pushing . . One was that there was a pattern of Black perpetrators and Asian victims, that the pattern was a symptom of a tension dating back decades. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ Maybe he went to Target, a few blocks from their home, where he liked to grab a coffee and browse the aisles. February 4, 2021 / 6:00 AM / CBS San Francisco. These laws can add time to an underlying sentence; in California, they can extend a sentence by three years. She is a 2021-22 Knight-Wallace reporting fellow at the University of Michigan and an inaugural recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. What made her father bleed out like that? Any time a family suffers a violent crime, a homicide in particular, theres questions, Boudin told me. Legal Statement. She thought about her father in the back of the car with the kids, their banter when she got ready for work in the morning. San Francisco police say their suspect Antoine Watson, 19, attacked the senior along Anza Vista and Fortuna Avenues Thursday morning. The way he greeted her with relief when she came home late from work. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Please enter valid email address to continue. The 2023 salary cap has already been set . In a quiet room upstairs draped in gold and red, she knelt before a shrine of Buddhas, vases filled with fresh tulips and a black-and-white portrait of her father. } We dont know how to attribute this rise in reporting, he told me. CONTACTS:. gads_event = event; 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.