This was the 70th. . . CONTACTS:. Since his retirement in 1996 from Kasikornbank, one of Thailands largest financial institutions, Mr. Vicha had traveled between San Francisco, where his eldest daughter lives, and Thailand, where his youngest does. hitType: 'event', Police later identified the suspect as Antoine Watson, 19. The next day, Monthanus tried to retrace her fathers steps. A surveillance video captured what happened next. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern, indem Sie auf unseren Websites und Apps auf den Link Datenschutz-Dashboard klicken. San Francisco Mayor, Police Chief, DA Condemn Fatal Assaults On Seniors; Vow To Address Violence, denounced the recent rise in violent crimes in the city, 76-year-old private investigator Jack Palladino, Suspects Sought In Home Invasion Robbery Of Elderly Woman In San Francisco, Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. Vicha was one of only a few people in the village who spoke English well, Mr. Surachai said. Youre not doing it right, her mother snapped at one point, grabbing the brush. He's currently . 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. 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. On the same day, Watson was apprehended at his home in Daly City along with 20-year-old Maylasia Goo . 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. }); On that morning a number of security cameras in the area captured Mr. Watson banging a car with his hand, according to Mr. Boudin, the district attorney. She said: You are not a victim. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The segment ran with Vichas photo and the headline Family of 84-Year-Old Killed in S.F. His orange jumpsuit fit loosely over his tall frame, chains linking his wrists, his hair growing out. 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. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), ga('ads.send', { His death helped awaken the nation to a rise in anti-Asian violence. Thats when I was like: This is more than some kind of accident or robbery or assault. 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. if(document.querySelector("#ads")){ ALSO READ: Suspects Sought In Home Invasion Robbery Of Elderly Woman In San Francisco. 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. 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. Yet today I still face people from the Black community who will come into our office on a weekly basis, saying that we only care about our people, that we just take their resources. Elderly Thai man in San Francisco killed by teen in unprovoked attack. An anti-hate rally outside the San Francisco civic center this month. 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. In San Francisco, where 36 percent of the population is of Asian descent, 16 percent of crime victims of known ethnicity were Asian, a similar situation to Alameda County. On her drive home, Monthanus thought about a defendant she saw earlier in the courtroom. stay inside. 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. There was barely a moment to grieve. Ratanapakdee's head hit the pavement as he fell. Betty Louie, an adviser to the San Francisco Chinatown Merchants Association, remembered that back when she had owned gift shops in the neighborhood, 25 years ago, "we . "New state funding allows the data gathering to continue, and the research will ultimately lead us to solutions that will make all communities safer.". Evan Sernoffsky reports. There is absolutely zero evidence that Mr. Ratanapakdees ethnicity and age was a motivating factor in being assaulted, Nawabi said. Otherwise, her mother believed, Vichas soul couldnt leave the earth and start its journey toward the afterlife. They have any language to help anybody.. 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. He had just gone to dinner with a few relatives visiting from Beijing. But it also drew criticism for effectively endorsing more policing at a time when law enforcement faced intense scrutiny, as well as for failing to address the root causes of racism or crime. San Francisco police arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of murder following a recent attack on an 84-year-old man in the Anza Vista neighborhood. 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. }); First published on February 8, 2021 / 3:17 PM. My wife and I thought, Could it be? Jeung recalled. She never got to decide. Im not a cop. She added thatRatanapakdee's family was "horrified" when she relayed the information. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Two days after entering the hospital, just before dawn, Vicha died in his sleep. There will be consequences. Youre going to survive, Dad, Monthanus told him. She had even persuaded him to leave his wallet at home, at least for another few weeks, when he was scheduled for his second shot of the coronavirus vaccine. Mr. Vicha went on to study at Thammasat University in Bangkok, one of the countrys most prestigious institutions. 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. 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. 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. No one helped him because they thought he had Covid, Jeung says. Watson has reportedlypleaded not guilty to the incident but his lawyer admits that his client had an "outburst of rage. }); He was booked on suspicion of murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. 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. Anyone can read what you share. It appears that the defendant was in some sort of a temper tantrum, Mr. Boudin said. What kind of person would do this? Monthanus wailed softly. (CBS), deadly attack of Vicha Ratanapakdee in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28, pled not guilty to charges of murder and elder abuse causing death, and that any perpetrators would "be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,", Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. I wonder if its my inner racism coming out. After Vicha died, Eric says, he saw so many videos, video after video of attacks in the news. 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. The San Francisco District Attorney's office stated on Monday, February 8, that their detention plan to hold 19-year-old Antoine Watson without bail was granted by the court. Body camera footage of the encounter led police to identify him. 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. It was heartbreaking. We dont know how to attribute this rise in reporting, he told me. Or am I just sensitive? Any time a family suffers a violent crime, a homicide in particular, theres questions, Boudin told me. A judge in San Francisco ruled Friday that Antoine Watson will stand trial in the brutal death of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. District Attorney responds to the . June 18, 2022. 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. A few steps away, she noticed a dark stain at the end of a driveway. Their desire to make sense of Vichas death, to understand what motivated it, placed them in the center of a conversation so much broader than their own. A long, thick tube protruded from Vichas head. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Due to the pandemic, the court had reopened at limited capacity to an enormous backlog. His older daughter, Monthanus, described her father as a devoted Buddhist. If Watson is convicted of murder, he could face 25 years to life in state prison. In the past year, researchers and activist groups have tallied thousands of racist incidents against Asian-Americans, a surge in hate that they link to former President Donald J. Trump repeatedly referring to the coronavirus as the Chinese virus. Mr. Vichas family described his killing as racially motivated, and it spurred a campaign to raise awareness by many prominent Asian-Americans, who used the online hashtags #JusticeForVicha and #StopAsianHate. The trust-building really took us 10 years, Wan says. Poypiti Amatatham contributed reporting from Bangkok. SAN FRANCISCO Weary of being cooped inside during the pandemic, . 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. Surveillance video from a camera across the street captured the moment of impact. Patrol officers' body camera footage of the encounter led officers to later identify Watson as the suspect in the murder of Ratanapakdee. She turned around to my son and said, Eff you, little boy. Each incident left her in shock and compelled her to attend the vigil. Why was no one intervening? 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. 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 . Pa, can you hear me? she repeated. 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. That evening, the couple stood at the doorway to her fathers room on the third-floor intensive-care unit. 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. Image: San Francisco District Attorney . The fatal assault in San Francisco on a defenseless older man was the latest terrifying episode for Asian-Americans, many of whom have endured racist taunts, rants and worse during the pandemic. 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. 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. 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. 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. The way he greeted her with relief when she came home late from work. As Vicha recovered from each operation, Monthanus had slept on the floor next to his bed, comforting him through the pain. Please enter valid email address to continue. hitType: 'event', 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. At one point, a neurologist hinted that if it were his father, he would most likely take him off life support. In an unprovoked attack, Antoine Watson, 19, charged at Vichar Ratanapakdee, 84, on Thursday during the senior's morning walk. One witness at the scene told officers that he saw . "I can't even imagine what his family is going through right now. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. In March, Jeung says, Stop AAPI Hate received roughly 2,800 reports, about the same number he received in all of 2020. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ eventAction: 'render' Thats not who he is. Steiner, who was Antoines elementary-school principal, said he needed mental-health support, not prison time. A lawyer for Antoine Watson, the defendant, argued that the case should be charged as involuntary manslaughter because he had no intent to kill. Ratanapakdee died after sustaining severe injuries. For months Mr. Vicha had been pining to return to Thailand but was unable to because of the pandemic. He died shortly after being rushed to a hospital. Police . 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. eventAction: 'view' Everyone fell silent. 3 min read. Donations flooded into their GoFundMe page, and they blew past their goal of $10,000 within days. Officers arrested Antoine Watson on Saturday after serving a warrant at a Daly City home. But he also suspects that the numbers reflect an animus that only deepened during lockdown. Other celebrities joined in. 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. pg.acq.push(function() { 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. The suspect was booked on suspicion of murder, elder abuse, and assault with a deadly weapon, KTVU reported. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. An 84-year-old man was killed after he was brutally attacked on a San Francisco street. 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. Two hours later, Antoine finally entered the room. 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. KGO obtained surveillance footage which apparently shows Antoine Watson, 19, knocking down Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, in front of his San Francisco home.Officers reportedly discovered Ratanapakdee on a sidewalk and rendered aid before paramedics rushed him to the hospital . Maybe he went to Target, a few blocks from their home, where he liked to grab a coffee and browse the aisles. We're less than two weeks away from the start of NFL free agency, which begins at 4 p.m. His killing came at a time when other disturbing images and reports were emerging from across the San Francisco Bay. The nurse who picked up, however, only had more questions. 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. After several weeks, the advocate replied that the office didnt have the budget to hire a translator. She could feel the weight of the pandemic starting to lift, but where there had once been anticipation, she now felt dread. New images have continued to surface on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. } Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle. They scrubbed the sidewalk with brushes and wondered why no one from the city had come to do the same. They will all be together.. Members of the department's arson task force took . Police arrested two people Saturday in connection with Thursday's filmed attack that left an elderly California man dead. . I have this weird, stupid fantasy, Eric said. 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. 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. Why would you call me when my father just died? ET on March 15. . Antoine Watson, a 19-year-old resident of neighboring Daly City, was arrested two days after the attack and charged with . March 3, 2023 12:27 pm ET. 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. Their landlord had sent a series of noise complaints and eviction warnings. Weitere Informationen ber die Verwendung Ihrer personenbezogenen Daten finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklrung und unserer Cookie-Richtlinie. Shortly after Vicha was pronounced dead, Monthanuss phone rang. A news cameraman wrestled with his tripod. In the next life, I hope Ill get to be your daughter again. February 8, 2021 / 3:17 PM In each instance, the bystanders appeared to do nothing. }); Solidarity is what it should be, she says. In April, while patrolling San Franciscos Chinatown, a former mayor and son of immigrants from Taishan and Hong Kong pointed to the bank across the street and told me his mother was mugged there a few years ago. . But what brought her out to the rallies, more than anything, was her desire for someone to answer for the loss of her father. Believe Attack Was Racially Motivated., Vichas story joined a cluster of reports about attacks on Asian elders in four cities. There were several violent crimes in San Francisco on Thursday, the article began. Monthanus sat on her bed that evening with Eric and their 11-year-old son, Titus, Googling her fathers age and the cross street where she found the stain. We were like, Is this a hate crime? He was like, I cant talk about this, Eric says. Instead, he paused for a moment and turned right, as though whatever caught his eye made him decide to change course. Police haven't said anything about a possible motive but they have arrested 19-year-old Antoine Watson and charged him with elder abuse, assault with a deadly weapon and murder. Fox News Flash top headlines are here. 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. A photograph of Vicha Ratanapakdee that hangs in his daughters home. Its like being bullied. 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. 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. Intravenous lines and electrode patches linked his body to a constellation of machines and bags of fluid. Boudin says Antoine Watson was . In July, however, the F.B.I. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { A.Cecil Williams told The New York Times in an article about the 2010 protest. 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 . Im not a judge. 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. 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. After interviewing prosecutors across more than 30 states, Avlana Eisenberg, a law professor at Florida State University, found that district attorneys offices often avoid adding hate-crime charges even and perhaps especially when the crime is particularly horrific, she wrote in The Atlantic this year. 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. Rachel Marshall / (415) 416-4468 / Rachel.Marshall@sfgov.org - SAN FRANCISCO-Today, San Francisco District Attorney Boudin announced that the District Attorney's Office has filed charges against two people for the crime that took the life of 76 year-old private investigator Jack Palladino and will file charges against one person for the murder of 84 year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. But let's try to make it work anyway. At Watsons bail hearing, Nawabi said he recognized the racial overtones of the case, but added, This false narrative that this is a targeted attack on the Asian community or an elderly man is misleading and prejudicial. He asked the court to order a neuropsychological evaluation and proposed releasing Watson to home confinement, where his family could look after him, along with requiring therapy and counseling, so that Watson wouldnt become another statistic in the criminal-justice world.. Eric and Monthanus being interviewed by a local TV station outside the Hall of Justice in San Francisco in July. Antoine Watson appears in court during a previous hearing. She told me, Go wash the blood right away, Monthanus says. The alleged killer is Daly City resident Antoine Watson, who was 19 at the time of the seemingly unprovoked sidewalk attack in the Anza Vista neighborhood. 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. She worried how the exposure affected her sons. Eric held her, and she held her sons. As the Lunar New Year approached in February, hundreds of people went out to protest the attacks. February 4, 2021 / 6:00 AM eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Breed said that she had the support of both the police department and the District Attorney's office in her stance. arrested and chargedwith murder and elder abuse. In an unprovoked attack, Antoine Watson, 19, charged at Vichar Ratanapakdee, 84, on Thursday during the senior's morning walk. People use the "young teenager" label on him as an excuse to obviously protect him and his behavior. Even inside the anti-Asian-hate movement, every expression of grief and resolution differed. Police said they were quickly able to identify Watson as the assault suspect. She had learned small details about the suspect from her initial conversations with the police: male, 19 years old, African American. Its like continuing to use a screwdriver when you need to use a saw.. 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. ", 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.". Another person claiming to be Vichas son had set up a fund-raiser in his name. ALSO READ: San Francisco Mayor, Police Chief, DA Condemn Fatal Assaults On Seniors; Vow To Address Violence. 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. There may be a logic behind that. His mother, who was also laid off from her job during lockdown, found work through relatives in another state and was, for a while, supporting the family from afar. another video that rocketed around the internet. Left, Mr. Vicha holding his young daughter next to his wife. And in a way I kind of am. A web camera streamed the ceremony for friends and family abroad. Eric said the photo, which was taken from behind and does not show a face, made the person look hateful. "Our officers identified our suspect as 19-year-old Antoine Watson of Daly City. Then, on a brisk and misty Northern California winter morning last month, he stepped outside. 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. Security footage showed the assailant R