Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Now that Mr. Vicha Ratanapakdee has died of his injuries, prosecution for this murderous hate crime is the only path to justice and community safety. Later, as more information trickled in, Eric changed stolen vehicle to a car disabled by an earlier hit-and-run; he also replaced thug with adult male, after watching an episode of S.W.A.T. in which a Black cop explained the words racist undertones to his partner. The family of a Thai senior citizen who died after being violently knocked to the . There is absolutely zero evidence that Mr. Ratanapakdees ethnicity and age was a motivating factor in being assaulted, Nawabi said. 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. 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. hitType: 'event', But I dont want it to be like that. 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. His brothers and sisters are there, Ms. Monthanus said. A strange voice picked up. 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. Eric held her, and she held her sons. As he was escorted out of the courtroom, an older woman later identified as his grandmother shouted, "I love you Antoine! A long, thick tube protruded from Vichas head. Mr. Nawabi described Mr. Watson as someone who had struggled with anger. 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. 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. 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 . We are one of the worlds fastest growing You have to live longer so you can watch Titus graduate from college!. The suspects have been identified as Antoine Watson, 19, and Maylasia Goo, 20, both of . Monthanus was alone in the room with her sister on FaceTime. Then Came a Brutal Attack. A few days later, Eric asked me if I saw the news about the recent attack on Carl Chan, the head of Oaklands Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, who has been a vocal supporter of increasing foot patrols and camera surveillance in the neighborhood. 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. 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. 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. 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. He was arrested along with Maylasia Goo, 20 . He often lightened the mood after she argued with her husband, teasing that his daughter talked too much. },false) 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. 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. An assailant, later identified by police as 19-year-old Antoine Watson, came barreling . 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. CALIFORNIADA RESPONDS TO ATTACKS AGAINST ELDERLY ASIANS, AS ACTIVISTS CLAIM CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC TO BLAME, A spokesperson for Boudin clarified that his comment was made "regardingMr. Watsons behavior prior to the murder" and that Boudin "charged the killing of Mr. Ratanapakdee as a murder, the most serious crime on the books.". window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotOnload', function(event) { Watson and his associate, 20-year-old Malaysia Goo, were arrested on January 30, 2021. Monthanus didnt always agree with her father, but she loved his spirit. 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. To fully appreciate the challenges that Wan and Lacoste face requires understanding the forces that have shaped that neighborhood, and many others, over decades redlining and employment discrimination, the long shadow of multiple tech booms, the burden of street violence, inadequate mental-health care, surging homelessness, the police response to all of it. In late January 2020, a man died outside a restaurant in Sydney after collapsing from a heart attack. media-tech companies with hubs around the world. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), He told Monthanus that when the time came, he wanted to be scattered in the bay, the place that became his home. 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. His brother, Surachai Ratanapakdee, 89, now the only surviving sibling of eight children, remembered Mr. Vicha as studious and curious about the world outside the rice paddies, watermelon fields and orchards of the family farm. 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. 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. 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 . Prior to joining Fox News' digital team in 2020, Manfredi worked for Fox Business' Making Money with Charles Payne as a production assistant. Many are outraged after an 84-year-old Asian man was killed in San Francisco, and the District Attorney, Chesa Boudin, justified the actions of the killer. She lowered her head and opened her palms to touch the rug three times. 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. 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. I have no chance to talk, how Im feeling right now, how I deal with it every time I do laundry, every time I drive to work, she said, looking in her rearview mirror, tears streaming. 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. As Vicha recovered from each operation, Monthanus had slept on the floor next to his bed, comforting him through the pain. In the absence of any sense of resolution, the couple began searching for clues on their own. Antoine, he shouted, holding up the baby. Monthanus ran to her fathers side and held his hand. From the front row, Monthanus fixed her gaze on him as he walked slowly to a seat near the gallery. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), ", ABC7's Dion Lim spoke with Ratanapakdee's family that said a temper tantrum is "no excuse" for murdering someone. On Twitter and elsewhere, Asian Americans lit up their feeds with an outpouring of grief and rage. The first one involved Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old San Francisco man of Thai descent, who was on his routine morning walk in late January when a man in a hoodie charged in his direction and . Antoine turned around and smiled again, until the door closed on him. SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The suspect in the brutal assault that fatally injured an 84-year-old San Francisco resident last week entered a not guilty plea to a homicide charge during a court appearance Wednesday. },false) I want him to be close to me, she said. Eric also busied himself with emails to architects and building managers in Chinatown, where he was planning a mural a few blocks from the Dragon Gate. Saturday evening at approximately 8:45 p.m., officers served a search warrant on the 500 block of Lisbon Street in Daly City and located Watson and Goo, who were arrested without incident. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function(event) { There was barely a moment to grieve. 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. She felt similarly snubbed after asking the advocate about applying for compensation for lost wages. The suspect, Antoine Watson, was arrested and charged with murder and is pending trial. Breed said that she had the support of both the police department and the District Attorney's office in her stance. But the overwhelming majority of hate-crime perpetrators are white.). In an unprovoked attack, Antoine Watson, 19, charged at Vichar Ratanapakdee, 84, on Thursday during the senior's morning walk. I know its not a scientific poll or whatever. The responses confirmed a thought in his mind all the same. What made her father bleed out like that? Antoine Watson previously pleaded not guilty to murder and elder abuse charges for the daylight attack on Anza . These stories have prompted continuous news coverage and social-media obsession, and beneath it all there lurks a desire to understand what is driving the attacks and how, exactly, race is playing a role. For Mr. Vicha, who stood 5 feet 6 inches and weighed 113 pounds, the attack was fatal. $300,000 a year is roughly what a family of four needs to earn to live a middle-class lifestyle in the Bay Area. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Monthanus Ratanapakdee praying for her father, Vicha, at the Nagara Dhamma Temple in San Francisco on Monday. That evening, the couple stood at the doorway to her fathers room on the third-floor intensive-care unit. Ratanapakdeewas walking in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on the morning of Jan.28 when he was violently shoved to the ground in whatBoudinreferred to as "a horrific, senseless attack". Mr. Vicha was fatally attacked during a morning walk last month. ga('create', 'UA-67136960-15', 'auto', 'ads'); . eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), "The rise in hate incidents against Asian Americans during the pandemic is alarming. pg.acq.push(function() { Other celebrities joined in. By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ February 2, 2021. The spokespersonnotedthat, if there were such documents, police could and would not be able to release them due to the incident being under an active homicide investigation. 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! Watson, along with his accomplice in the killing, pled "not guilty" at their court hearings. 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. First published on February 4, 2021 / 6:00 AM. ga('ads.send', { }); 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 . A representative for the San Francisco Police Department told FOX News that the agency is unable to confirm that the documents obtained by Lim are police documents. Ms. Monthanus says she and her family will charter a boat under the Golden Gate Bridge and scatter some into the Pacific Ocean. 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 . Monthanus wailed softly. she trailed off and let out a deep sigh. On the morning of Jan. 28, when Monthanus and the children were still asleep, he prepared to head out. You can dial 311 or 911, she reminded them. Their marigold robes glowed in the sun. 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. Bei der Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps verwenden wir, unsere Websites und Apps fr Sie bereitzustellen, Nutzer zu authentifizieren, Sicherheitsmanahmen anzuwenden und Spam und Missbrauch zu verhindern, und, Ihre Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps zu messen, personalisierte Werbung und Inhalte auf der Grundlage von Interessenprofilen anzuzeigen, die Effektivitt von personalisierten Anzeigen und Inhalten zu messen, sowie, unsere Produkte und Dienstleistungen zu entwickeln und zu verbessern. Everyone fell silent. Then one day, after knocking on a neighbors door to ask about their surveillance footage, she returned to her car to find Troy crying in the back seat. Market data provided by Factset. Vicha was one of only a few people in the village who spoke English well, Mr. Surachai said. A.Cecil Williams told The New York Times in an article about the 2010 protest. Monthanus wore a black wool cloak over a pleated dress that flew up as the boat pulled away from the dock. 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. Left, Mr. Vicha holding his young daughter next to his wife. A nurse came in and explained that the surgeon hadnt been able to stop the bleeding. 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. Several people suggested that there was more to the video that went viral, which prompted Monthanus to walk around the block to knock on neighbors doors and ask if they would share their security-camera footage. Weitere Informationen ber die Verwendung Ihrer personenbezogenen Daten finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklrung und unserer Cookie-Richtlinie. 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 and Eric voted for him. (Eric, who worked at two restaurants as a server and manager before the pandemic, was on unemployment.) There had been so many attacks since the one on her father. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. A homicide detective gave his condolences and said they were planning to charge the attack as a murder. 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. / CBS San Francisco. ALSO READ: Suspects Sought In Home Invasion Robbery Of Elderly Woman In San Francisco. Police say their suspect Antoine Watson, 19, attacked the senior along Anza Vista and Fortuna . Watson entered a not guilty plea to charges of murder and elder abuse causing death during the brief court appearance. }); Monthanus and Eric posed for photos and signed a petition to recall Chesa Boudin, as people stopped to greet them with elbow bumps and condolences. Your father is a victim. (Under California law, families of victims are eligible for work compensation only if a minor died or was hospitalized.). Video footage shows the teen running at Ratanapakdee and pushing him over, knocking him to the ground. 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. "I can't even imagine what his family is going through right now. Please enter valid email address to continue. 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. If he had been murdered, Monthanus asked Eric, why wasnt it on the news? 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 . After the attack, as her father lay on the ground, a couple driving by stopped to place a blanket on him. I believe people are better than the worst things they have done," said Breed. And once I hear that, I dont think we have a choice but to accept it., I dont know if we can, you know, let him go, he added. When she came back in, she noticed his tablet was gone. "Look, I believe in second chances. Or am I just sensitive? 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. But he also suspects that the numbers reflect an animus that only deepened during lockdown. He was cited by the San Francisco police for running a stop sign and reckless driving and then slept that night in his car. Body camera footage of the encounter led officers to identify Watson and a female associate he was with at the time of the assault. 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. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ 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. All rights reserved. a white gunman killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. Editor's note: In the wake of numerous incidents of anti-Asian assaults and increasing concern over violent crime in San Francisco, . She told her husband, Eric Lawson, who rushed home from the restaurant where he worked. 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 worried how the exposure affected her sons. Some assailants have yelled slurs while throwing a punch or slashing at their victims with a knife. In the next life, I hope Ill get to be your daughter again. He had guided her through lifes big decisions, her moments of uncertainty and doubt. 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. 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. The video was taken from the same angle as the clip that everyone saw, only this footage was longer. Last week, Mayor London Breed, joined by Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney Chesa Boudin, said violence in San Francisco would not be tolerated and that any perpetrators would "be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," especially those who targeted children or the elderly. 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. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/magazine/vicha-ratanapakdee.html. 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. The nurse who picked up, however, only had more questions. Antoine Watson, with murder and 20-year-old female friend, Maylasia Goo . Its like continuing to use a screwdriver when you need to use a saw.. Through her organization, Hollins, who lost two brothers to homicide in the last decade, assists victims of crime and lobbies to increase support services provided by the state. She is a 2021-22 Knight-Wallace reporting fellow at the University of Michigan and an inaugural recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize.