The suspect, Antoine Watson, was arrested and charged with murder and is pending trial. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. She thought about Antoine, knowing there were people in his life who loved him. That Antoine was still young. I want to know what happened. document.querySelector("#ads").addEventListener('click',function(){ And you have to take responsibility for the pain and the suffering you caused.". Within one week of the websites start, Stop AAPI Hate received 673 reports of verbal and physical attacks, as well as other forms of harassment, like spitting, coughing and online threats. He's currently . She found it hard to follow the legal vocabulary and felt bad asking Eric to explain terms and intricacies. Monthanus and her parents subscribed to a Buddhist belief that, after death, the soul takes 100 days to reach the afterlife. This was the 70th. Market data provided by Factset. Klicken Sie auf Alle ablehnen, wenn Sie nicht mchten, dass wir und unsere Partner Cookies und personenbezogene Daten fr diese zustzlichen Zwecke verwenden. Breed spoke of the shock she felt seeing the brutal assault of Ratanapakdee on video and offered her sympathies to the family. Video footage played during witness testimony this week shows Antoine Watson . There may be a logic behind that. I know thats totally crazy, he said, but I get that feeling sometimes. Who is Antoine Watson? San Francisco's chief prosecutor addressed the January death of Vicha Ratanapakdee at a time when many Asian Americans feel targeted based on their race. 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. Editor's note: In the wake of numerous incidents of anti-Asian assaults and increasing concern over violent crime in San Francisco, . Why would you call me when my father just died? A witness told the police they heard a voice shouting, Why you lookin at me? twice before hearing Ratanapakdee, prosecutors said. The video shows that the elderly man had no opportunity to protect himself, Assistant District Attorney Sean Connolly wrote in a motion seeking to detain Watson. 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. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/us/asian-american-hate-crimes.html. When they got home, he pulled out her phone, and instead of putting on his usual cartoons, he scrolled through her photos. hitType: 'event', The nurse who picked up, however, only had more questions. I met Monthanus one breezy afternoon in April at Wat Nagara Dhamma, a Buddhist temple outfitted inside a small two-story house across the street from Golden Gate Park. Their landlord had sent a series of noise complaints and eviction warnings. Vicha Ratanapakdee, a Thailand native who his family says emigrated to America to . Its like being bullied. 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. For his family, the death has been devastating both in California and abroad. Monthanus wondered at first, her mind thick with shock. And the fact that another human being would do that to an elderly senior in our community is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen," said the mayor. 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. 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. Asian Americans in San Francisco are leading the campaign to recall the city's far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin on June 7. . There was no longer any way to ignore the violence that was happening to people who look like us, Mr. Ham said. 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. 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. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ So we created our own website. (The California attorney generals office collects data on hate crimes in the state but not other cases involving verbal harassment, for example, which often dont constitute crimes.). And these memories, the sense of injustice that still lingered in them, overlapped with other histories still. In each case, the suspects were Black. She was a Thai immigrant living in Alameda a diverse town, she said. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly described the coronavirus or COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus," a reference to its outbreak from Wuhan, China. Breed said that she had the support of both the police department and the District Attorney's office in her stance. Its like continuing to use a screwdriver when you need to use a saw.. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. In the next life, I hope Ill get to be your daughter again. eventAction: 'click_adunit' Monthanus and Eric voted for him. ga('ads.send', { She added thatRatanapakdee's family was "horrified" when she relayed the information. "The rise in hate incidents against Asian Americans during the pandemic is alarming. 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. He believes that the attacks on the elderly and the Atlanta shootings led more people to file reports. Its nonstop, you know? She thought about the people she had met at the rallies who had quit their jobs to patrol or speak out full time. Police officers issued him a citation. We matter, and racism is killing us. When a video emerged showing a 91-year-old shoved to the ground in Chinatown in Oakland, Calif., the actors Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Wu posted a $25,000 reward for anyone who had more information on the suspect, tweeting, Remember Vincent Chin, who was beaten to death by two white men in Detroit in 1982. This unfortunate assault has to do with a break in the mental health of a teenager. Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year old immigrant from Thailand, was preparing to go on his early morning walk in the quiet Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco on Saturday, January 28, 2021. She told me, Go wash the blood right away, Monthanus says. 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. Im fine, even if hes in a wheelchair or doesnt wake up, she said. Vicha and his first grandson, Titus Lawson, in 2009. San Francisco police were quickly able to identify Watson as the assault suspect. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), I wonder if its my inner racism coming out. Ms. Monthanus says she and her family will charter a boat under the Golden Gate Bridge and scatter some into the Pacific Ocean. 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. Monthanus wore a black wool cloak over a pleated dress that flew up as the boat pulled away from the dock. 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. In an unprovoked attack, Antoine Watson, 19, charged at Vichar Ratanapakdee, 84, on Thursday during the senior's morning walk. }); assault in Western Addition that led to the death an 84-year-old man, police said. A preliminary hearing for the man accused of fatally pushing Vicha Ratanapakdee in San Francisco last year commenced on Tuesday, reigniting calls for justice and an end to anti-Asian violence. 3 min read. 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. Surveillance video from a camera across the street captured the moment of impact. 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. another video that rocketed around the internet. 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. In the months since her father died, she and Eric had spent so much of their time at rallies, at court or on the phone with reporters and lawyers. Antoine Watson arrested assault w/deadly weapon & elder abuse. }); He disliked the chilly and wet San Francisco winter and missed his favorite southern Thai dishes and his extended family and friends. On her drive home, Monthanus thought about a defendant she saw earlier in the courtroom. Believe Attack Was Racially Motivated., Amanda Nguyen, a prominent activist, shared Sernoffskys report. After the last court hearing, Monthanus called the victims advocate assigned to her by the district attorneys office to request a Thai translator. He always told me that if something happened to him, this must be passed on to grandchildren, she said. I got everything back the house key, even the quarter. Eric fixated on the footage, too. He often lightened the mood after she argued with her husband, teasing that his daughter talked too much. hitType: 'event', The submissions came from 31 states and the District of Columbia, with nearly half the reports originating in California and New York. But Mr. Chan says he has tallied more than two dozen assaults against Asian-American victims in Chinatown, including two other people shoved by the assailant who knocked down Mr. Diaz. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), . The segment ran with Vichas photo and the headline Family of 84-Year-Old Killed in S.F. Around 10 p.m., a new search result popped up. Thats not who he is. Steiner, who was Antoines elementary-school principal, said he needed mental-health support, not prison time. She is a 2021-22 Knight-Wallace reporting fellow at the University of Michigan and an inaugural recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize. 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. } Notifications can be turned off anytime from browser settings. Investigators interviewed some 100 people and reviewed 175,000 computer files, some of which indicated that the gunman had visited white-supremacist websites. If you miss Grandpa, she told him, go to his photo and say hi. Troy walked up to two framed portraits of his grandfather that now hung side by side on the wall. 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. ET on March 15. One hundred days after her fathers death, Monthanus boarded a boat with Eric, their sons and a few friends. What made her father bleed out like that? Whenever she left the house, she tested a can of pepper spray in the bathroom, the fumes burning her eyes, before tucking it in her pocket. 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. by Anh L. Officers discovered an 84-year-old man lying on the sidewalk, rendered aid and summoned medics to transport the victim to a hospital for life-threatening injuries. The Thai grandfather had just survived his heart surgery 9 months before, and his doctor told him to walk daily for his exercise. Only one agreed. 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. Boudin, who started his term just a few months before the lockdown, in January 2020, inherited more than 5,000 criminal prosecutions. 2021, 19-year-old Antoine Watson, was just "having some sort of temper tantrum" when he killed him. Mom, you know what? When Monthanus talked about these incidents, how the outside world didnt feel safe anymore, her father would ask, Is it really that bad? There had been so many attacks since the one on her father. But the overwhelming majority of hate-crime perpetrators are white.). 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. At the time of the attack, Mr. Vicha was only months away from being able to return to Thailand. Hi! he shouted over and over. 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. These shifts werent always visible, but they were there beneath the influx or exodus, beneath the mistrust and grievances, beneath what each person, Black or Asian, took away from the images of attacks flooding the news. Even inside the anti-Asian-hate movement, every expression of grief and resolution differed. 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. Thats when I was like: This is more than some kind of accident or robbery or assault. But the steps were nearly empty. Others have injured or killed people without saying a word. While it does not change the legal definition of a hate crime, the legislation commits funds to fast-track federal reviews of hate-crime investigations and approves grants for local law enforcement agencies. 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Please enter valid email address to continue. 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. A strange voice picked up. There were several violent crimes in San Francisco on Thursday, the article began. 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. Watson, along with his accomplice in the killing, pled "not guilty" at their court hearings. 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. Since her fathers death, she and Eric agreed that no one would go out at night without him. Owners of gun stores reported more Asian customers than ever before. There will be consequences. Its the everyday little microaggressions and little nuances thats harder to tackle.. Mr. Vicha was fatally attacked during a morning walk last month. 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. On the far side of the bridge, where the bay meets the Pacific, the engine stopped. She shut the laptop and told Titus to leave the room. 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. Watson has reportedlypleaded not guilty to the incident but his lawyer admits that his client had an "outburst of rage. Any time a family suffers a violent crime, a homicide in particular, theres questions, Boudin told me. What is incontrovertible, say leaders of the Asian-American community nationwide, is that the pandemic created a climate of fear and a feeling of insecurity from New York to California. },false) Police . But he also suspects that the numbers reflect an animus that only deepened during lockdown. 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. or redistributed. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. In the appeal, the family asked residents in San Francisco to contact the local district attorney Chesa Boudin to ensure that Antoine Watson and Ms Maylasia Goo, a 19-year-old woman charged as an accessory to the crime, face the full force of the law for what they describe as a racially motivated hate crime. Or is this my trauma? Two hours later, Antoine finally entered the room. 19-year-old Antoine Watson, pushing . 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. 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. We dont know how to attribute this rise in reporting, he told me. A victims advocate assigned by the district attorneys office helped the couple apply for state reimbursement for the cremation, the funeral and other expenses. SF teen who killed 84-year-old man by shoving him to pavement pleads not guilty. When we go to the beach we can dream that he is with us., She plans to bring the other urn back to her fathers hometown in southern Thailand, where the local Buddhist temple has a stupa that holds the familys remains. media-tech companies with hubs around the world. It was the second such march in a week; the first, in Oakland, California, also drew dozens of supporters, many of them carrying signs demanding that racism be stamped out, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 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. Eric said the photo, which was taken from behind and does not show a face, made the person look hateful. Legal Statement. A photograph of Vicha Ratanapakdee that hangs in his daughters home.CreditKevin Kunishi for The New York Times. 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. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern, indem Sie auf unseren Websites und Apps auf den Link Datenschutz-Dashboard klicken. A surveillance video captured what happened next. Friends scattered the flower petals. Everybody I talked to said it was from a Black person, he told me. 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. Officers arrested Antoine Watson, 19, and his female companion . A Feb. 9 report by Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate foundover 2,808 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate from 47 states and the District of Columbiabetween March 19, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2020, with 126 accounts (7.3% of total incidents)of anti-Asian hate involving Americans over 60 years old. Officers arrested Antoine Watson on Saturday after serving a warrant at a Daly City home. You know what she said? Watson allegedly carried out the deadly attack on senior citizen Vicha Ratanapakdee in the citys Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28, 2021. In the hours before the attack, Mr. Watson had a string of setbacks. We are one of the worlds fastest growing The streets were quiet. . The trust-building really took us 10 years, Wan says. How long did he lie outside before an ambulance arrived? 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. }) In the past week the California Legislature approved $1.4 million in funding to track and research racist incidents against Asian-Americans. 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. Monthanus and Eric had been busy arranging her fathers funeral while fielding phone calls and messages from family, friends and strangers. 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. ga('ads.send', { Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Wans group, Community Youth Center, responded by opening a new office in Bayview-Hunters Point, where the attacks occurred. Due to the pandemic, the court had reopened at limited capacity to an enormous backlog. How many Vicha Ratanapakdees need to happen before you see anything at all?. All rights reserved. "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. For his grieving family, the reckoning hasnt gone far enough. (His mother is Mexican, and he identifies as mixed race; strangers often assume he is white. ), 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. But what brought her out to the rallies, more than anything, was her desire for someone to answer for the loss of her father. Prior to joining Fox News' digital team in 2020, Manfredi worked for Fox Business' Making Money with Charles Payne as a production assistant. First published on February 8, 2021 / 3:17 PM. Being found guilty of a hate crime would not extend such a sentence significantly, but the designation has always symbolized more to victims and their families: the difference between calling out prejudice and denying it. / CBS San Francisco. 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(), They sailed toward the Golden Gate Bridge, the choppy waters jostling them as they chanted the Five Precepts. California lawmakers have approved$1.4 million in state funds to help Asian Americans report hate incidents following the recent uptick. The hearing was brief and procedural; a trial date has yet to be set. In March, a man waving a Laotian flag told a small crowd at a protest in San Mateo, Calif., that Vicha reminded him of his grandparents, who collected cans to get by, which was why he decided to go on the front lines and patrol Chinatown in Oakland. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() {
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