75-Year-Old Asian Victim Speaks Out on Twitter after Market Street Attack

By Alana Bleimann

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Troubling video of a bloodied and injured 75-year-old female Asian victim was seen across Twitter this week after she called out for help after being attacked by a white 39-year-old man on Market Street in San Francisco Wednesday.

The Tweet surfaced from account holder @DennisKPIX (Dennis O’Donnell), sports director with CBS San Francisco, who came upon the incident moments after the attack occurred on March 7.

The victim can be seen holding a large ice pack to her face with a bloodied hand—where there is a purple swollen eye.

She seems to be shouting at the attacker who lies upon a stretcher, blood spilling out his mouth and wrists handcuffed to the stretcher bars.

“From what I could see, she wanted more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her back,” O’Donnell stated to CBS-SF.

After her attacker was wheeled away, she began crying and telling the forming crowd how “this bum, he hit me.”

On Thursday, the victim was seen speaking online about her experience with her daughter through Twitter user @BettyKPIX (Betty Yu) account:

She “is very scared, traumatized, and very hurt,” the victim’s daughter stated, noting, “The right eye, it still cannot see anything.”

Before the attacker even approached the victim, she was simply standing on the sidewalk “waiting for the traffic light,” her daughter explained to Yu.

The 50-second video, with 194,000 plus views, ended with the victim wailing out in fear for her safety.

SF PD has stated this to be a possible hate crime, but there is no statement from the department confirming that racial bias played a role in the attack.

Arrests were made Thursday of 39-year-old suspect Steven Jenkins, identified by witnesses at the scene in U.N. Plaza.

In a recent statement, Police Chief William Scott acknowledged the rising motives for hate crimes toward the AAPI community, as he said:

“As you may know, the San Francisco Bay Area has been seeing an alarming spike in brazen anti-Asian violence in recent weeks. We are coordinating with our federal partners and local (Asian American) community organizations. Working together, we must prevent violence and hold perpetrators accountable.”

Alana Bleimann is a junior at the University of San Francisco majoring in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice Studies. She is from Raleigh, North Carolina.


To sign up for our new newsletter – Everyday Injustice – https://tinyurl.com/yyultcf9

Support our work – to become a sustaining at $5 – $10- $25 per month hit the link:

About The Author

The Vanguard Court Watch operates in Yolo, Sacramento and Sacramento Counties with a mission to monitor and report on court cases. Anyone interested in interning at the Courthouse or volunteering to monitor cases should contact the Vanguard at info(at)davisvanguard(dot)org - please email info(at)davisvanguard(dot)org if you find inaccuracies in this report.

Related posts

11 Comments

  1. Alan Miller

    I couldn’t find this interview online, but did find several stories by Betty Yu on violence against Asian’s, including one where she talks about this nearly a year ago.  In the story referenced in the DV, the attacker is white and the woman apparently got a piece of him was a large stick.  Some of the other videos I ran across while looking the attackers appeared to be black.  I’m not bringing this up regarding race – what was common across the board is that these were all young, strong, males.  Like, what kind of sick f¨ck young strong male uses their masculinity and strength to attack elderly people?  I just can’t wrap my head around that.  In one video, three young, strong men beat and rob an elderly Asian person in a laundromat (they were all caught).  Again, WTF?

  2. Ron Oertel

    There are multiple, odd stories regarding this incident.  Regardless, the role of the security guard who ended up detaining this guy is not addressed.  The suspect was apparently being pursued by the security guard for another attack, when he allegedly attacked this woman – which seems quite odd.

    Police arrest suspect in assaults of two elderly Asians in SF (sfgate.com)

    Here’s yet another incident. (I found this while searching for the incident, above.)

    https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/sf-police-arrest-suspect-in-two-violent-assaults-on-city-streets/2495254/

     

     

  3. Ron Oertel

     Some of the other videos I ran across while looking the attackers appeared to be black.  I’m not bringing this up regarding race – what was common across the board is that these were all young, strong, males.

    The part that I have concerns about is that some of particular political persuasions do point it out, when a suspect is white.  Almost gleefully it seems, as it “proves” their view.

    I believe that the suspect in this article is white, which I suspect might be the primary reason you’re seeing it in the Vanguard, now.  After multiple, other attacks occurred which didn’t involve “whites”.

    Of course, some also downplay attacks by blacks – by stating that it’s more related to crime, in general. And therefore not a “hate crime”.

    Seems like there’s a double-standard, regarding what constitutes a “hate” crime. (Which seems like a relatively useless, politically-oriented term to begin with.)

    So really, my “beef” is the politicization of the issue.

    1. David Greenwald

      In this case, the Vanguard didn’t select this case, one of our reporters, Alana did.  You would have to ask her as to why she chose this case.  I feel like we have covered stuff that has been relevant to the overall conversation.  You seem bent on the idea that there is a fundamental difference between these cases when the person involved is white or Black, I don’t actually agree, I think they are responding to the same ecosystem.

      1. Ron Oertel

        You seem bent on the idea that there is a fundamental difference between these cases when the person involved is white or Black, I don’t actually agree, I think they are responding to the same ecosystem.

        There is not a fundamental difference between these cases, but there is a fundamental difference in media coverage, and the overall “story” that is told.

        It feeds into the whole idea of white suppression, in the minds of some. News gets reported from that perspective.

        Look at the story regarding the SF school board member, that I posted yesterday. That is probably not an uncommon view. Had that person been white, I suspect she would have been recalled back in 2016.

        1. David Greenwald

          If there is, it is because most reporters do not understand what is going on.  There was a great article in the Washington Post on Thursday that illustrated just how badly the media messed up the early reporting of the Atlanta shootings in part because they took their cues from the police, who exhibited their own bias and presumptions.  Worth reading.

        2. Ron Oertel

          That could be.  Certainly, one could interpret the initial comment from police as not being appropriate.  The women in that case were having much more of a “bad day” than the suspect.

          But, I still haven’t seen the evidence that this might have been a racially-based hate crime (that you alleged).  I believe one of the victims was white.

          And if there is evidence of racist comments in the past, is the issue of “nexus” to those comments an issue?

          Can one make racist comments at any point in their life (which I don’t recommend, regardless), without being subsequently “tried” for those comments for any actions taken (e.g., years later)? 

          Or even for non-actions, when someone stumbles upon or searches for them – as in the case of the black school board member who was much later supporting a plan to do-away with a merit-based system at the top high school? The more I think about it, the less I believe that this type of witch hunt is not particularly productive – regardless of skin color. I think it would be more useful to expose and discuss those type of views.

           

        3. Alan Miller

          Two of eight were ‘white’.  A strange debate:  a deranged person kills eight women who apparently worked in the sex-trade, and there is a politically-fueled fight over whether his motivation was racial bias or fueled by a sex addiction.  I saw one pundit taking the racial bias stance and when challenged that it was sex addiction, they said it was because our society fetishizes Asian women.  I dunno, maybe, though I think fetishes are individual kinks – individual men fetishize all sorts of traits — hair color, race, various body parts. 

          I found this while looking for the video – a reporter (Asian) who ran into three obnoxious racist idiots in a airport.  I point this vid out because at the very end of the vid she jumps in to say people ‘on social media’ had been criticizing her for stating the first arsehole was a ‘person of color’ and she flat out states that people are mistaken if they think only white people are racists.  Then she says the first arse appeared to be ‘south Asian’.  Which I don’t know what that means, was she saying from India region?

Leave a Reply

X Close

Newsletter Sign-Up

X Close

Monthly Subscriber Sign-Up

Enter the maximum amount you want to pay each month
$ USD
Sign up for