The video was taken from the same angle as the clip that everyone saw, only this footage was longer. A.Cecil Williams told The New York Times in an article about the 2010 protest. Anyone who thinks San Francisco is an easy touch, you need to think twice." . He told Monthanus that when the time came, he wanted to be scattered in the bay, the place that became his home. March 3, 2023 12:27 pm ET. Four of the victims were Sikh, prompting calls to examine whether the gunman was motivated by bias. Its like being bullied. Why was no one intervening? Im going to take care of you. Antoine Watson held in attack on 84-year-old victim. ga('ads.send', { 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 . 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. Police officers issued him a citation. When her mother saw the video, she stiffened. media-tech companies with hubs around the world. That afternoon, the couple taped their first interview, with the KTVU reporter Evan Sernoffsky, near the courthouse steps. Legal Statement. The streets were quiet. Notifications can be turned off anytime from browser settings. Im not a lawyer. Solidarity is what it should be, she says. 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. He left his home because of a family dispute and got in a traffic accident in San Francisco at 2 a.m. (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. Then, on March 16, a white gunman in the Atlanta area drove to several businesses and shot eight people to death. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Now that Mr. Vicha Ratanapakdee has died of his injuries, prosecution for this murderous hate crime is the only path to justice and community safety. Later, as more information trickled in, Eric changed stolen vehicle to a car disabled by an earlier hit-and-run; he also replaced thug with adult male, after watching an episode of S.W.A.T. in which a Black cop explained the words racist undertones to his partner. Other celebrities joined in. She tried to shield them from the video, but sometimes the evening news would be on and the footage would flash by before she could turn it off. }); That older victim has been wrongly described in many news accounts as Asian. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle. hitType: 'event', Antoine, he shouted, holding up the baby. Vicha and his first grandson, Titus Lawson, in 2009. Im just a human being who feels things., He pondered this while sitting in his car, in the spot where Antoine reportedly parked on the morning of the attack on Vicha. Due to the pandemic, the court had reopened at limited capacity to an enormous backlog. Another was that such a pattern was not only false, but that the belief in it was a racist misperception. Inside, Monthanus held her composure as her frustration grew. Monthanus wondered at first, her mind thick with shock. Monthanus and Eric voted for him. There were several violent crimes in San Francisco on Thursday, the article began. Among Asian-Americans, many of whom have endured racist taunts, rants and worse during the coronavirus pandemic, the killing of a defenseless older man became a rallying cry. Antoine Watson arrested assault w/deadly weapon & elder abuse. Youre not doing it right, her mother snapped at one point, grabbing the brush. 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. MEAWW is an initialism for Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide. Its the everyday little microaggressions and little nuances thats harder to tackle.. Another person claiming to be Vichas son had set up a fund-raiser in his name. A lawyer for Antoine Watson, the defendant, argued that the case should be charged as involuntary manslaughter because he had no intent to kill. There was barely a moment to grieve. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/us/asian-american-hate-crimes.html. Through her organization, Hollins, who lost two brothers to homicide in the last decade, assists victims of crime and lobbies to increase support services provided by the state. Patrol officers' body camera footage of the encounter led officers to later identify Watson as the suspect in the murder of Ratanapakdee. Ms. Monthanus says she and her family will charter a boat under the Golden Gate Bridge and scatter some into the Pacific Ocean. After Vicha died, Eric says, he saw so many videos, video after video of attacks in the news. She wakes up crying; she goes to sleep crying, Steiner said. I think a lot of that grief and anger and scapegoating continues to be directed toward Asians.. It was the type of forceful body blow that might have knocked unconscious a young football player in full protective pads. San Francisco police arrest man who filmed attack of elderly Asian man collecting recyclables, Man punches elderly woman in head as she walks and then plays the victim in shocking random attack in Brooklyn. Monthanus squatted and scrubbed as her mother poured a jug of water over the concrete, the headlights shining behind them. The killing of a Thai man in America has given voice to a united community under the umbrella of an Asian-American identity. Friends scattered the flower petals. Video footage shows the teen running at Ratanapakdee and pushing him over, knocking him to the ground. Donations flooded into their GoFundMe page, and they blew past their goal of $10,000 within days. 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. The question is: Does it prevent things like this from happening again? She continued: Regardless of the laws intent, how its received is, This is disingenuous, because were using the same tools to fix the problem. His death helped awaken the nation to a rise in anti-Asian violence. Around the same time as the Oakland rally, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who represents the Bay Area, and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) also denounced the "white supremacy . The grandmother of a teen who senselessly pushed and killed a Thai grandfather has said her grandson should walk free. Where did the assault happen? "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. Police say their suspect Antoine Watson, 19, attacked the senior along Anza Vista and Fortuna . This arrest data includes all information on current and previous arrests for Antoine Watson The suspect, Antoine Watson, was arrested and charged with murder and is pending trial. 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. How many Vicha Ratanapakdees need to happen before you see anything at all?. $300,000 a year is roughly what a family of four needs to earn to live a middle-class lifestyle in the Bay Area. And in a way I kind of am. The court system, which they thought would deliver swift justice, was confoundingly slow. As she replayed the footage again and again, Monthanus kept coming back to the same conclusion. A former public defender, Boudin was part of a new wave of progressive prosecutors who entered office the year before with the promise of reform. 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. During the pandemic, Vicha usually left the house before 8 a.m. and made it back before his grandsons started their Zoom classes. San Francisco District Attorneys office stated that Watson had been observed and contacted by San Francisco Police officers earlier that morning for traffic violations following a minor collision and was issued a citation. As Monthanus poured the water, she felt her breath shorten, bit by bit, until she was gasping for air. People use the "young teenager" label on him as an excuse to obviously protect him and his behavior. Why would you call me when my father just died? Their landlord had sent a series of noise complaints and eviction warnings. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ What kind of person would do this? Why you looking at me? and then a crushing sound., Watson pleaded not guilty. Last week, Mayor London Breed, joined by Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney Chesa Boudin, said 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. Antoine Watson, a 19-year-old resident of neighboring Daly City, was arrested two days after the attack and charged with . February 8, 2021 / 3:17 PM Ratanapakdee's head hit the pavement as he fell. 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. Now they wanted action. More than 500 days after the incident, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin ruled that the evidence presented by the District Attorney's Office is enough for a murder trial. It was then that Mr. Vicha walked up Anzavista Avenue, a street with views of skyscrapers in the citys financial district. The incident was caught on camera, galvanizing the national Stop Asian Hate movement. "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. Right, Mr. Vicha receiving the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. By William McCurry. He had guided her through lifes big decisions, her moments of uncertainty and doubt. Why, since her fathers death, did it feel as if there were more cases every day? A.Cecil Williams told The New York Times in an article about the 2010 protest. And though half of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Bay Area are low- or very-low-income, as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (a quarter live in high-income households), they are often seen as beneficiaries of rising inequality. In each instance, the bystanders appeared to do nothing. 3 min read. If Watson is convicted of murder, he could face 25 years to life in state prison. In late January 2020, a man died outside a restaurant in Sydney after collapsing from a heart attack. "New state funding allows the data gathering to continue, and the research will ultimately lead us to solutions that will make all communities safer.". Antoine grew up in San Francisco and spent part of his childhood with his siblings, parents and grandparents in the Anza Vista area, where Vicha later lived. SF teen who killed 84-year-old man by shoving him to pavement pleads not guilty. They will all be together.. 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. In an unprovoked attack, Antoine Watson, 19, charged at Vichar Ratanapakdee, 84, on Thursday during the senior's morning walk. A San Francisco man accused of killing an 84-year-old Thai grandfather in an attack that galvanized Asian Americans and helped spur a successful recall of the city's liberal prosecutor was ordered . No one helped him because they thought he had Covid, Jeung says. (Eric, who worked at two restaurants as a server and manager before the pandemic, was on unemployment.) The San Francisco District Attorney's office told KPIX 5 on Monday that their detention motion to hold 19-year-old Antoine Watson without bail was granted by the court. . News of a viral outbreak in Wuhan had started circulating in the international news media. Police . No one had been able to identify Vicha his pockets contained a quarter and a pair of keys. And you have to take responsibility for the pain and the suffering you caused.". eventAction: 'click_image_ads' The group filed out to the edge of the deck. 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. He didnt take anything from my father, not even the tablet, she says. But he says there is no evidence to suggest it was motivated by racial animus. She remains puzzled why on the morning of the attack he left without his Buddhist amulet, a talisman of protection that he always wore around his neck. She found it hard to follow the legal vocabulary and felt bad asking Eric to explain terms and intricacies. The San Francisco District Attorneys office stated on Monday, February 8, that their detention plan to hold 19-year-old Antoine Watson without bail was granted by the court. But one day last year, while biking near her house, an elderly man shouted at her, You dont belong here. Another time, while walking around the neighborhood with her son, they waved and smiled at a young lady who was listening to music and dancing. Breed spoke of the shock she felt seeing the brutal assault of Ratanapakdee on video and offered her sympathies to the family. 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. 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. You have to live longer so you can watch Titus graduate from college!. }); window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('impressionViewable', function(event) { Walking was how he explored San Francisco when he first arrived there from Thailand in 2000, to spend a year with Monthanus while she attended business school, and again in 2018, to help take care of her two sons. / CBS San Francisco. Or am I just sensitive? At the rallies they attended, every now and then a different Black man approached the microphone, or met with the couple on the sidelines, and tried his best to break the ice. 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. She wanted to keep him alive. How long did he lie outside before an ambulance arrived? College students, high schoolers and middle schoolers organized or attended rallies in their hometowns. Anyone can read what you share. A photograph of Vicha Ratanapakdee that hangs in his daughters home. In Thailand, the killing was front-page news and described as barbaric, a life cut short in a family where siblings typically live into their late 90s, relatives say. 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. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/magazine/vicha-ratanapakdee.html. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. We also identified his female associate as 20-year-old Maylasia Goo also of Daly . 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. . 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. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), }); 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. On Jan. 15, he received the first shot of the Moderna vaccine. Monthanus wore a black wool cloak over a pleated dress that flew up as the boat pulled away from the dock. That Antoine was still young. His comments tugged at a bigger, messier debate about race that had been building around the attacks. SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The suspect in the brutal assault that fatally injured an 84-year-old San Francisco resident last week entered a not guilty plea to a homicide charge during a court appearance Wednesday. },false) You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! 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. },false) Believe Attack Was Racially Motivated., Vichas story joined a cluster of reports about attacks on Asian elders in four cities. she trailed off and let out a deep sigh. A web camera streamed the ceremony for friends and family abroad. Your father is a victim. (Under California law, families of victims are eligible for work compensation only if a minor died or was hospitalized.). 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. She felt similarly snubbed after asking the advocate about applying for compensation for lost wages. A photograph of Vicha Ratanapakdee that hangs in his daughters home.CreditKevin Kunishi for The New York Times. 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 had always looked to her father when something troubled her conscience. We were like, Is this a hate crime? He was like, I cant talk about this, Eric says. They also identified a female associate he was with at the time of the assault as 20-year-old Daly City resident Maylasia Goo. Video footage shows the teen running at Ratanapakdee and pushing him over, knocking him to the ground. stay inside. 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. Surveillance video from a camera across the street captured the moment of impact. Otherwise, her mother believed, Vichas soul couldnt leave the earth and start its journey toward the afterlife. Her father had been assaulted and taken to a hospital, a police officer said. When she finished, the defendant lifted his glasses and wiped his eyes. Jaeah Lee is a magazine journalist based in San Francisco, with a focus on criminal justice. He has pled not guilty to charges of murder and elder abuse causing death. 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. Chan shared a photo of the person he said attacked him, who appeared to be Black, with reporters. 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". pg.acq.push(function() { As he was escorted out of the courtroom, an older woman later identified as his grandmother shouted, "I love you Antoine! We dont know how to attribute this rise in reporting, he told me. Then, in a jacket, jeans and a white baseball cap, he slipped out of the apartment, down two flights of stairs and into the foggy morning. "You will be held accountable by both the police and the District Attorney. . San Francisco police have arrested 19-year-old Antoine Watson of Dale City on suspicion of murder, along with Malaysia Goo, 20, for allegedly serving as an accessory after the attack. A news cameraman wrestled with his tripod. The man had accepted a plea agreement for domestic-violence charges, and afterward his victim asked the judge if she could say a few words. 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. Wans group, Community Youth Center, responded by opening a new office in Bayview-Hunters Point, where the attacks occurred. Poypiti Amatatham contributed reporting from Bangkok. We are one of the worlds fastest growing One month after the Atlanta shootings, a white gunman killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. Maybe he went to Target, a few blocks from their home, where he liked to grab a coffee and browse the aisles. After the last court hearing, Monthanus called the victims advocate assigned to her by the district attorneys office to request a Thai translator. 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. 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. Eric, who grew up near San Jose, described himself as someone who never thought much about race during his upbringing. During the pandemic, she persuaded him to avoid shopping and stick to outdoor walks. San Francisco police arrested Antoine Watson on Saturday after serving a warrant at a home in Daly City. She told her husband, Eric Lawson, who rushed home from the restaurant where he worked. 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. He has pled not guilty to charges of murder and elder abuse causing death. Watson was arrested along with a female associate he was with at the time of the assault. A nurse came in and explained that the surgeon hadnt been able to stop the bleeding. In the hours before the attack, Mr. Watson had a string of setbacks. 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. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. In the United States and elsewhere, private schools asked their Chinese international students not to return for the spring semester; shopkeepers turned away customers who appeared Asian; Chinatowns emptied. At one point, a neurologist hinted that if it were his father, he would most likely take him off life support. 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. I got everything back the house key, even the quarter. Eric fixated on the footage, too. Who is Antoine Watson? gads_event = event; who was violently pushed and killed by Antoine Watson in . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. For Sarah Wan, a community organizer who has been helping victims of violence in San Francisco, the debate brought back memories from 2010, when hundreds gathered outside City Hall to protest a series of similar reports. There was no longer any way to ignore the violence that was happening to people who look like us, Mr. Ham said. First published on February 4, 2021 / 6:00 AM. San Francisco police arrested 19-year-old Antoine Watson days after the attack. Eric complimented his vest and said he thought about wearing his. She guessed he would have walked in a clockwise loop from their building she often suggested he take that route because it included an uphill stretch that would help him get some cardio. Eric held her, and she held her sons. He was arrested along with Maylasia Goo, 20 . CONTACTS:. The next day, Monthanus tried to retrace her fathers steps. This image from CCTV footage shows the moment Vicha Ratanapakdee was fatally attacked in Anza Vista, San Francisco. a white gunman killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. I want to know why, she said. The Thai grandfather had just survived his heart surgery 9 months before, and his doctor told him to walk daily for his exercise. The San Francisco Chronicle reports supporters of the victim's family packed the courtroom wearing "justice for Vicha" t-shirts.. Video of the incident went viral and came to symbolize the spike in anti-Asian hate, although the San Francisco District Attorney . Legal Statement.