Man Arrested After Racist Assault On 76-Year-Old Asian Grandmother In San Francisco

Photos: KPIX

A man has been arrested in San Francisco after attacking a 76-year-old Asian woman in the street in what is believed to be a racially motivated assault.

The 39-year-old is said to have attacked Xiao Zhen Xie by punching her in the street in broad daylight, leaving her with injuries. Xiao Zhen Xie managed to defend herself using a stick to hit the man and then began biting him. The man was then detained by police who arrived quickly on the scene and was taken to hospital on a stretcher by a paramedic crew. Xiao Zhen Xie was left bruised by the attack, it is said she also suffered severe eye injuries.

The scene was caught on camera by KPIX Sports Director Dennis O'Donnell , he said:

"The woman said that she was hit. She attacked back. From what I could see, she wanted more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her back."

Just came upon an attack on an elderly Asian woman on Market Street San Francisco. Effort I got more details pic.twitter.com/5o8r0eeHE2

— Dennis O'Donnell (@DennisKPIX) March 17, 2021

The attack is one of a recent spate of attacks on Asians in the Bay Area of San Francisco. The man in custody is now a suspect in a number of these unsolved cases. One of these involves an attack on an 83-year-old Asian man in the city. A 59-year-old Asian man was also attacked in the same area as he walked home from work earlier this week.

Police Chief Bill Scott said the authorities were investigating all of these crimes to see if there was a link, he said:

"We have to do our job and we have to investigate these cases with all resources brought to bear and we need to make arrests, and we've done that."

Zhao Zhen Xie's daughter, Dong-Mei Li, said that her mother had been left very traumatised by the attack. She wrote:

"My grandmother that was racially attacked today on 3-17-21 market street. I am amazed by her bravery. She was the one that defended herself from this unprovoked attack. But she is now suffering two serious black eyes and one that is bleeding unstoppably. Her wrist has also swelled up. She has been severely affected mentally, physically, and emotionally."

A fundraiser to help pay for medical expenses rose over $500,000 in just a couple of days.

Racially-motivated hate-crimes against Asian people have soared over the last year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is believed to have originated in China. Racists have used this fact as an excuse to single-out and target Asian-people for attack.

The anti-racist group StopAAPIHate said that they had received reports of 3,795 reported racist attacks on Asians in the United States in the last year alone.

[h/t: I heart Intelligence]