October 2021. Shortly after Vicha was pronounced dead, Monthanuss phone rang. 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 . window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { He was the one who encouraged her to go to the United States, the reason she started her life here. Video shows San Francisco attack that left 84-year-old dead - New York Post What kind of person would do this? Confronting anti-Asian violence, hate crimes, and killings in San another video that rocketed around the internet. Murder charges expected in attack on famed private eye | AP News Owners of gun stores reported more Asian customers than ever before. The streets were quiet. Mayor London Breed and Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered condolences. 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. Let it go. Wans group, Community Youth Center, responded by opening a new office in Bayview-Hunters Point, where the attacks occurred. Suspect In The Murder Of Vicha Ratanapakdee Held Without Bail }); For his grieving family, the reckoning hasnt gone far enough. Video shows shocking assault that left 84-year-old San Francisco man San Francisco police say their suspect Antoine Watson, 19, attacked the senior along Anza Vista and Fortuna Avenues Thursday morning. Months before the country went into lockdown, Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University, came down with a bad case of the flu. Earlier that week, two more videos emerged from New York City of a man in Times Square stomping on a woman on her way to church; of a man punching and choking another man on the J train. In each case, the suspects were Black. },false) 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. 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 . Why was an elderly San Francisco man killed? Was it a hate crime? Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. by Anh L. Right, Mr. Vicha receiving the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. The killing of Vicha was so plain as day, said Will Lex Ham, a New York-based actor, who after watching the video flew from New York to San Francisco to help lead protests and safety patrols in Asian neighborhoods. Vicha and his first grandson, Titus Lawson, in 2009. Intravenous lines and electrode patches linked his body to a constellation of machines and bags of fluid. Why High-Profile Attacks on SF's Asian Communities Rarely Lead - KQED When she came back in, she noticed his tablet was gone. Even without much publicity, we have already received a strong response from the community, who want their voices heard, Jeung wrote in the groups first report. 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! 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. Police arrested two people Saturday in connection with Thursday's filmed attack that left an elderly California man dead. Mr. Watsons lawyer, Sliman Nawabi, a public defender, said his client would not have been able to identify Mr. Vichas ethnicity through his face mask, cap and winter clothing. 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. Here is a photo of Vicha Ratanapakdee, who was killed in a shocking attack last week in San Francisco. 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. stay inside. SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) A man charged in the brutal assault of an 84-year-old San Francisco man that was captured on video last month will remain in custody following a court hearing Monday. Monthanus pulled him close, from behind; she didnt want him to see her crying. Why Was Vicha Ratanapakdee Killed? - The New York Times An 84-year-old man was killed after he was brutally attacked on a San Francisco street. 'Black and Asian unity': attacks on elders spark reckoning with racism After Vicha died, Eric says, he saw so many videos, video after video of attacks in the news. Solidarity is what it should be, she says. 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." . 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. At the time of the attack, Mr. Vicha was only months away from being able to return to Thailand. I know its not a scientific poll or whatever. The responses confirmed a thought in his mind all the same. In recent years, the Asian percentage of the Bayviews population has become five times as large as it was in 1980, while the Black share has shrunk by more than half. In March, Jeung says, Stop AAPI Hate received roughly 2,800 reports, about the same number he received in all of 2020. Monthanus gave the nurse her fathers name, his medical-record number and his six prescriptions, which included a high dose of blood thinners. There was no evidence depicted that the elderly man did anything to provoke the attack. The Department of Police stated that they identified Watson quickly. Another witness said he heard a voice yelling: Why you looking at me? His public defender, Sliman Nawabi, challenged the murder charge, arguing that Watson did not intend to kill Vicha. We're less than two weeks away from the start of NFL free agency, which begins at 4 p.m. Antoine Watson arrested assault w/deadly weapon & elder abuse. At one point, the couple agreed to stop going to rallies for a while. But inevitably they would get in the car with a poster of Vicha in the back. 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. Vicha and Jintana Ratanapakdee on their wedding day in 1970. a mob descended on the Capitol early that month, Family of 84-Year-Old Killed in S.F. In July, however, the F.B.I. hitType: 'event', She shut the laptop and told Titus to leave the room. 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. document.querySelector("#google_image_div").addEventListener('click',function(){ Preliminary Hearings Begin in Murder of Elderly Anza Vista Man, Packing . In the past week the California Legislature approved $1.4 million in funding to track and research racist incidents against Asian-Americans. Otherwise, her mother believed, Vichas soul couldnt leave the earth and start its journey toward the afterlife. He Came From Thailand to Care For Family. Often, the natural human response is to want someone to blame for the pain that youre experiencing. He added, Although our system is pretty effective at processing cases and punishing, were not effective at providing the kinds of answers to families in pain and need to feel a sense of closure, or to be able to move on with their lives after suffering often unthinkable harm., Most states 48, as well as the District of Columbia have laws addressing hate crimes that are motivated by a victims race, religion or sexual orientation, among other classifications. San Francisco News, Restaurants . pg.acq.push(function() { The suspect, Antoine Watson, was arrested and charged with murder and is pending trial. It looked like blood, but she wasnt sure. Police say their suspect Antoine Watson, 19, attacked the senior along Anza Vista and Fortuna . But once he does, we should work out some kind of situation where we could forgive somehow and move on with our life. A homicide detective gave his condolences and said they were planning to charge the attack as a murder. The Cost Of Raising Many Children Isn't Just About The Money A witness told the police they heard a voice shouting, Why you lookin at me? twice before hearing Ratanapakdee, prosecutors said. eventAction: 'load' When Monthanus had a gripe with the landlord or a stranger who crossed her, he would tell her to let it go, to leave it to karma. She could see that Vichas death meant something bigger than her own grief, that he was part of a history that preceded her and a future she could help shape. Monthanus Ratanapakdee praying for her father, Vicha, at the Nagara Dhamma Temple in San Francisco on Monday. . 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. We also identified his female associate as 20-year-old Maylasia Goo also of Daly . Please enter valid email address to continue. 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. eventAction: 'click_ads' As Vicha recovered from each operation, Monthanus had slept on the floor next to his bed, comforting him through the pain. 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. In the next life, I hope Ill get to be your daughter again. It was heartbreaking. 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. Monthanus agreed, even as her worry turned to panic. let gads_event; When she made it to the hill, she noticed a neighbor working in his garage and asked if he knew where the episode happened the other day. For his family, the death has been devastating both in California and abroad. Antoine Watson held in attack on 84-year-old victim. Monthanus wanted to speak to the judge, too. That January, an old man yelled at her in Golden Gate Park something about a virus and going back to her country while she watched her sons, then 10 and 7, run in a playground. Im not a judge. 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. She knew what he would say if he were here now. Its still there. But her mind swirled with bigger questions. 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. Her mother had been blaming karma for her fathers death; weakened by his recent heart operations, Vicha often joked that life was getting too painful to bear. They asked the state attorney generals office to help them track what they believed to be a growing number of episodes. San Francisco Officials Try to Shake Soft-on-Crime Image After Violent There were several violent crimes in San Francisco on Thursday, the article began. But the overwhelming majority of hate-crime perpetrators are white.). 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. Maybe he went to Target, a few blocks from their home, where he liked to grab a coffee and browse the aisles. 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. I know thats totally crazy, he said, but I get that feeling sometimes. Monthanus was too emotional then. Thats not who he is. Steiner, who was Antoines elementary-school principal, said he needed mental-health support, not prison time. Why, since her fathers death, did it feel as if there were more cases every day? It was the type of forceful body blow that might have knocked unconscious a young football player in full protective pads. There was barely a moment to grieve. The family of the 84-year-old San Francisco man killed in a seemingly random attack believes it was a racist act. 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. SAN FRANCISCO, CAA San Francisco African-American teen accused of murdering 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee in January 2021 was ordered to stand trial, a judge ruled Friday.. Anita Nabha, 20-year-old Antoine Watson's attorney, said he was distressed after a "stressful encounter with police hours earlier" and may not have known the man was elderly, reports the San . ", 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.". According to Sliman Nawabi, the public defender, Antoine feels remorse and shame for what happened and wishes he could sit down with Vichas family so he could explain the struggles he has gone through in life. Police said they were quickly able to identify Watson as the assault suspect. That evening, the couple stood at the doorway to her fathers room on the third-floor intensive-care unit. They will all be together.. Six of the victims two women of Chinese descent, four women of Korean descent worked at the businesses targeted by the gunman, an unequivocal sign for many of those watching that he acted out of hatred, misogyny and racism. 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. Antoine Watson, a 19-year-old resident of neighboring Daly City, was arrested two days after the attack and charged with . On her drive home, Monthanus thought about a defendant she saw earlier in the courtroom. Monthanus didnt always agree with her father, but she loved his spirit. Where did the assault happen? ), 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. I killed Dad.. 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 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. Monthanus wailed softly. This January, Vicha was eager to regain his stamina after a recent series of heart operations, so that he could walk again for longer distances. . The video was taken from the same angle as the clip that everyone saw, only this footage was longer. 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. For a short while, Monthanus half believed it, too. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), 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. Your father is a victim. (Under California law, families of victims are eligible for work compensation only if a minor died or was hospitalized.). After her sons Zoom classes on Jan. 28, Monthanus began to worry about where her father was. 3 min read. I want to know what happened. Or is this my trauma? Vicha's Killer Blames Cops for 'Stressing Him Out' Before His Death Mom, you know what? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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 . He was cited by the San Francisco police for running a stop sign and reckless driving and then slept that night in his car. }); if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ 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. My wife and I thought, Could it be? Jeung recalled. A close friend, also searching, sent her two links that vaguely mentioned Vicha, including an article published in Chinese by KTSF, a local outlet serving a primarily Chinese American audience. }) By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ February 2, 2021. A.Cecil Williams told The New York Times in an article about the 2010 protest. 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. Surveillance video showed Ratanapakdee 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. She had always looked to her father when something troubled her conscience. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. She told me, Go wash the blood right away, Monthanus says. Body camera footage of the encounter led officers to identify Watson and a female associate he was with at the time of the assault. "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. They also identified a female associate he was with at the time of the assault as 20-year-old Daly City resident Maylasia Goo. Throughout 2020, multiple strangers had come at her seemingly out of nowhere. 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. As the Lunar New Year approached in February, hundreds of people went out to protest the attacks. He said she didnt want to go to court; she just wanted to bury it. There was no longer any way to ignore the violence that was happening to people who look like us., Antoine Watson, a 19-year-old resident of neighboring Daly City, was arrested two days after the attack and charged with murder and elder abuse. Other celebrities joined in. How could it have been prevented? San Francisco police were quickly able to identify Watson as the assault suspect. In the absence of any sense of resolution, the couple began searching for clues on their own. Sliman Nawabi, a deputy public defender representing Watson, disputed the perception that the attack was racially motivated. Our seniors are afraid to walk their own streets, Mr. Chan said. Im not a lawyer. 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. Before sitting down, he glanced toward the back of the room and smiled when he recognized a young man. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Eric, who grew up near San Jose, described himself as someone who never thought much about race during his upbringing. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Vicha Ratanapakdee as he is knocked to the ground Thursday by an attacker later identified as 19-year-old Antoine Watson in San Francisco, at left, and Vicha in an undated photo, at right. He gets talked about as though he's some little baby minor. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/us/asian-american-hate-crimes.html. 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. Give him a chance, she could hear her father saying. The next day, Monthanus tried to retrace her fathers steps. I told him to walk that way. There may be a logic behind that. 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 .