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. By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ February 2, 2021. 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. 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. It looked like blood, but she wasnt sure. MEAWW brings you the best content from its global team of Vicha was one of only a few people in the village who spoke English well, Mr. Surachai said. A surveillance video captured what happened next. Im not a judge. What made her father bleed out like that? Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Antoine Watson previously pleaded not guilty to murder and elder abuse charges for the daylight attack on Anza . 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. These conversations surfaced the memory of Black Americans killed senselessly by Asian perpetrators, too Latasha Harlins, the young teenager carrying $2 and a bottle of orange juice, shot to death by a Korean American shopkeeper in 1991; Akai Gurley, an unarmed young father shot to death in a dark stairwell by a Chinese American police officer in 2014. Can I see my father? she asked. Antoine Watson, with murder and 20-year-old female friend, Maylasia Goo . Boudin says Antoine Watson was . 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. If he had been murdered, Monthanus asked Eric, why wasnt it on the news? There were several violent crimes in San Francisco on Thursday, the article began. eventAction: 'render' Everyone fell silent. Police officers issued him a citation. 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. 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 . Why did this happen? Wheres Grandpa? Troy asked her. But inevitably they would get in the car with a poster of Vicha in the back. 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. Only one agreed. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/magazine/vicha-ratanapakdee.html. Where did the assault happen? SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) - An 84-year-old California man is dead after a seemingly random daylight attack in the Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco, video from ABC 7 News shows. 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. hitType: 'event', An anti-hate rally outside the San Francisco civic center this month. She never got to decide. . 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. A victims advocate assigned by the district attorneys office helped the couple apply for state reimbursement for the cremation, the funeral and other expenses. 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." . She had always looked to her father when something troubled her conscience. Watson was apparently vandalizing a car when Ratanapakdee looked at him and changed directions on his walk, Connolly said in his detention motion, citing surveillance footage from the scene. 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. 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. That afternoon, the couple taped their first interview, with the KTVU reporter Evan Sernoffsky, near the courthouse steps. }); They said they didnt have the capacity to track racism, Jeung says. Wans group, Community Youth Center, responded by opening a new office in Bayview-Hunters Point, where the attacks occurred. Maylasia Goo also arrested. 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. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ The family of the 84-year-old San Francisco man killed in a seemingly random attack believes it was a racist act. I believe people are better than the worst things they have done," said Breed. But maybe were going to be hurt forever anyway.. After the attack, as her father lay on the ground, a couple driving by stopped to place a blanket on him. eventAction: 'click_adunit' 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! For a short while, Monthanus half believed it, too. 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. A judge in San Francisco ruled Friday that Antoine Watson will stand trial in the brutal death of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. A lawyer for Antoine Watson, the defendant, argued that the case should be charged as involuntary manslaughter because he had no intent to kill. 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. Officers arrested Antoine Watson, 19, and his female companion . She said: You are not a victim. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. After the last court hearing, Monthanus called the victims advocate assigned to her by the district attorneys office to request a Thai translator. Eric complimented his vest and said he thought about wearing his. Monthanus and Eric voted for him. After her father died, Monthanus had given up her night job processing customs paperwork for an import-export company to help watch the kids. Monthanus didnt hesitate. As he was escorted out of the courtroom, an older woman later identified as his grandmother shouted, "I love you Antoine! Then, on a brisk and misty Northern California winter morning last month, he stepped outside. ga('ads.send', { 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. 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. 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. 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. But her mind swirled with bigger questions. 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. It was heartbreaking. 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. Ratanapakdee was brought to San Francisco General Hospital, but he eventually died on Saturday. They have any language to help anybody.. In an unprovoked attack, Antoine Watson, 19, charged at Vichar Ratanapakdee, 84, on Thursday during the senior's morning walk. Stories like Vichas inspired some to start neighborhood-patrol groups to accompany elders on their walks to and from home, scan the streets for suspicious activity and, in some cases, call the police to intervene. That week, on Feb. 4, the couple spoke with San Franciscos district attorney, Chesa Boudin, on a call. 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. ga('ads.send', { }); Theres been a half-million deaths. Kevin Kunishi is an American photographer living in Oakland, Calif., who is known for creating long-form projects that explore aftermath, trauma and identity. Mom, you know what? How long did he lie outside before an ambulance arrived? Donations flooded into their GoFundMe page, and they blew past their goal of $10,000 within days. They sailed toward the Golden Gate Bridge, the choppy waters jostling them as they chanted the Five Precepts. Lucas Manfredi is a general assignment reporter for Fox News. I just want to know why he did it. As two bailiffs escorted Antoine out, the young man in the back left the courtroom and returned with a baby in his arms. Watson, the suspect identified in Ratanapakdee's murder,wasarrested and chargedwith murder and elder abuse. Its been a year of pent-up anger and frustration directed toward Asians, he says. The Thai grandfather had just survived his heart surgery 9 months before, and his doctor told him to walk daily for his exercise. There was barely a moment to grieve. 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 . Market data provided by Factset. let gads_event; It's not clear Watson's motivation. Thats not who he is. Steiner, who was Antoines elementary-school principal, said he needed mental-health support, not prison time. 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. eventAction: 'view' Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. . (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. He was also on a waiting list to become a registered gun owner. 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. Eric and Monthanus being interviewed by a local TV station outside the Hall of Justice in San Francisco in July. I know thats totally crazy, he said, but I get that feeling sometimes. By William McCurry. A nurse came in and explained that the surgeon hadnt been able to stop the bleeding. Video footage shows the teen running at Ratanapakdee and pushing him over, knocking him to the ground. Mr. Vicha went on to study at Thammasat University in Bangkok, one of the countrys most prestigious institutions. who was violently pushed and killed by Antoine Watson in . Two days after the attack, Ms. Monthanus and her mother went to the spot where Mr. Vicha was killed and saw that his blood still stained the pavement. 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. On Jan. 15, he received the first shot of the Moderna vaccine. Considering him being 19 or even older now, he is no longer a child and is capable enough to keep his hands to himself. October 2021. District Attorney Chesa Boudin has said Goo was seated in the car and played no apparent role in the attack. Her father had been assaulted and taken to a hospital, a police officer said. They will all be together.. I want to know why, she said. A local ABC News affiliate had posted footage from a surveillance camera. 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. Watson is accused in the deadly attack of Vicha Ratanapakdee in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28. And you have to take responsibility for the pain and the suffering you caused.". ), 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. 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 . Due to the pandemic, the court had reopened at limited capacity to an enormous backlog. Youre not doing it right, her mother snapped at one point, grabbing the brush. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly described the coronavirus or COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus," a reference to its outbreak from Wuhan, China. . 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. Activists have argued the rise in hate incidentsshows a pattern of abuse related to blame placed on the Asian American community for the coronavirus pandemic. Antoine Watson, 19, . Monthanus wondered at first, her mind thick with shock. Family believes attack of 84-year-old man in San Francisco was racial motivated. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Grandpa died as a result of Antoine not being arrested for reckless driving, he said, and then not having proper services to come out and talk to him while hes out here yelling all morning., He thought about Antoines family and something his friend once told him, about how when his son had issues with another family, he would meet with them to talk about it. On Twitter and elsewhere, Asian Americans lit up their feeds with an outpouring of grief and rage. She worried how the exposure affected her sons. His comments tugged at a bigger, messier debate about race that had been building around the attacks. Then the flood came. ", ABC7's Dion Lim spoke with Ratanapakdee's family that said a temper tantrum is "no excuse" for murdering someone. Evan Sernoffsky reports. That he still had a life ahead of 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. He died shortly after arrival in the hospital. } Antoine Watson arrested assault w/deadly weapon & elder abuse. 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 . Officers arrested Antoine Watson on Saturday after serving a warrant at a Daly City home. The stories filled Monthanus with questions. College students, high schoolers and middle schoolers organized or attended rallies in their hometowns. ga('create', 'UA-67136960-15', 'auto', 'ads'); 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. "Look, I believe in second chances. Watson entered a not guilty plea to charges of murder . another video that rocketed around the internet. Its like continuing to use a screwdriver when you need to use a saw.. Otherwise, her mother believed, Vichas soul couldnt leave the earth and start its journey toward the afterlife. The hearing was brief and procedural; a trial date has yet to be set. He always told me that if something happened to him, this must be passed on to grandchildren, she said. He believes that the attacks on the elderly and the Atlanta shootings led more people to file reports. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. February 8, 2021 / 3:17 PM About an hour later, Mr. Vicha, an 84-year-old retired auditor from Thailand, was violently slammed to the ground by a man who charged into him at full speed. 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. A San Francisco judge has ruled that a man accused of killing an 84-year-old Thai grandfather will stand trial. In the . A witness told the police they heard a voice shouting, Why you lookin at me? twice before hearing Ratanapakdee, prosecutors said. Some assailants have yelled slurs while throwing a punch or slashing at their victims with a knife. She shut the laptop and told Titus to leave the room. One witness at the scene told officers that he saw . ET on March 15. His brothers and sisters are there, Ms. Monthanus said. 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. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { A test soon showed that they had H1N1, a common strain of influenza, and their symptoms subsided within a week. 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. Another witness said he heard a voice yelling: Why you looking at me? The Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, passed with bipartisan support and signed into law by President Biden in May, primarily aims to improve crime reporting and data collection. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) { Watson allegedly carried out the deadly attack on senior citizen Vicha Ratanapakdee in the citys Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28, 2021. Antoine Watson held in attack on 84-year-old victim. Breed spoke of the shock she felt seeing the brutal assault of Ratanapakdee on video and offered her sympathies to the family. 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. He had guided her through lifes big decisions, her moments of uncertainty and doubt. One witness at the scene told officers that he saw a Black male, 18 to 30 years old, approach and stand over an elderly man lying on the ground. SAN FRANCISCO (CN) Following shockingly brutal attacks that left two elderly men dead last week, San Francisco officials on Tuesday sought to dispel perceptions that the city is soft on crime under the administration of a progressive, reform-minded district attorney. She tried calling it. Watson entered a not guilty plea to charges of murder and elder abuse causing death during the brief court appearance. 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. 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. 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. But the steps were nearly empty. 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. Mourners have left flowers and condolences by a garage door at the spot where Mr. Vicha was attacked in the Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco. The day after Monthanus and Eric's first TV appearance, San Francisco's district attorney charged Antoine Watson, the 19-year-old accused of shoving Vicha to death, with murder and elder abuse . She found it hard to follow the legal vocabulary and felt bad asking Eric to explain terms and intricacies. I have this weird, stupid fantasy, Eric said. "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. When Ms. Monthanus expressed her desire to go to graduate school two decades ago, Mr. Vicha supported her decision to enroll in business school at the University of California, Berkeley. Eric held her, and she held her sons. She told me, Go wash the blood right away, Monthanus says. An 84-year-old man was killed after he was brutally attacked on a San Francisco street. 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. Mr. Vichas cremated remains have been placed in two urns. Allen Martin reports on the first court appearance by the 19-year-old suspect who fatally assaulted an 84-year-old San Francisco man last week (2-3-2021) 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. In November, another old man spat in her direction as her sons rode their scooters by the bay. 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. I want him to be close to me, she said. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Owners of gun stores reported more Asian customers than ever before. Monthanus agreed, even as her worry turned to panic. When her mother saw the video, she stiffened. "I can't even imagine what his family is going through right now. No one helped him because they thought he had Covid, Jeung says. hitType: 'event', Monthanus Ratanapakdee praying for her father, Vicha, at the Nagara Dhamma Temple in San Francisco on Monday. 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 . People use the "young teenager" label on him as an excuse to obviously protect him and his behavior. He died shortly after being rushed to a hospital. New images have continued to surface on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. Several young people carried signs with an illustration of a 75-year-old Chinese woman who, a few weeks earlier, was punched by a white man and then fought back by whacking him with a wooden board. 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.
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