Then, on March 16, a white gunman in the Atlanta area drove to several businesses and shot eight people to death. He said she didnt want to go to court; she just wanted to bury it. She is a 2021-22 Knight-Wallace reporting fellow at the University of Michigan and an inaugural recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize. another video that rocketed around the internet. Watson has reportedlypleaded not guilty to the incident but his lawyer admits that his client had an "outburst of rage. She tried calling it. }); SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: A teenager charged in the brutal assault of an 84-year-old San Francisco man that was captured on video in January 2021, will remain in custody following a court hearing on Monday, February 15. How long did he lie outside before an ambulance arrived? He died shortly after being rushed to a hospital. A local ABC News affiliate had posted footage from a surveillance camera. During the pandemic, Vicha usually left the house before 8 a.m. and made it back before his grandsons started their Zoom classes. (His mother is Mexican, and he identifies as mixed race; strangers often assume he is white. she trailed off and let out a deep sigh. These laws can add time to an underlying sentence; in California, they can extend a sentence by three years. In the weeks since it happened, Mr. Vichas death has become a symbol for the vulnerability that many in the Asian-American community feel in this moment. 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. Im a bad daughter, she would say. Monthanus and her parents subscribed to a Buddhist belief that, after death, the soul takes 100 days to reach the afterlife. This image from CCTV footage shows the moment Vicha Ratanapakdee was fatally attacked in Anza Vista, San Francisco. Monthanus and Eric had been busy arranging her fathers funeral while fielding phone calls and messages from family, friends and strangers. Mr. Vichas cremated remains have been placed in two urns. The number of submissions grew steadily throughout the year, reaching a total of 2,800 by the end of 2020. On January 29, 2021, investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Watson for 245(a)1 PC - Assault with a Deadly Weapon and 368(b)1 PC - Elder Abuse causing . hitType: 'event', An 84-year old man is dead after a horrific daytime attack in San Francisco's Anza Vista neighborhood. Investigators interviewed some 100 people and reviewed 175,000 computer files, some of which indicated that the gunman had visited white-supremacist websites. 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. Antoine, he shouted, holding up the baby. 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! 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. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ What kind of person would do this? }); For weeks, Monthanus Ratanapakdee urged her parents to please. 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. Why, since her fathers death, did it feel as if there were more cases every day? Right, Mr. Vicha receiving the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. First published on February 8, 2021 / 3:17 PM. Legal Statement. }); News of a viral outbreak in Wuhan had started circulating in the international news media. He Came From Thailand to Care For Family. Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Only one agreed. 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. Officers arrested Antoine Watson, 19, and his female companion . 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. Police said they were quickly able to identify Watson as the assault suspect. hitType: 'event', Friends scattered the flower petals. I have this weird, stupid fantasy, Eric said. She thought about Antoine, knowing there were people in his life who loved him. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. There were several violent crimes in San Francisco on Thursday, the article began. That evening, the couple stood at the doorway to her fathers room on the third-floor intensive-care unit. A test soon showed that they had H1N1, a common strain of influenza, and their symptoms subsided within a week. There had been so many attacks since the one on her father. Monthanus wanted to speak to the judge, too. I wonder if its my inner racism coming out. A.Cecil Williams told The New York Times in an article about the 2010 protest. Your father is a victim. (Under California law, families of victims are eligible for work compensation only if a minor died or was hospitalized.). Wheres Grandpa? Troy asked her. But we dont want to give up, because unless everybodys safe in that community, nobody is., Lyslynn Lacoste, who runs a city program called BMAGIC and works with Wans group, told me that undoing misperceptions between communities had no quick fix. There were debates among Black residents about what contributed to the shortage of affordable housing, Lacoste says, but tension also took subtler, more pervasive forms the kind she could feel most recently at a neighborhood beauty-supply store when an Asian clerk followed her as she shopped. 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. Ratanapakdee's head hit the pavement as he fell. (Eric, who worked at two restaurants as a server and manager before the pandemic, was on unemployment.) One of the biggest flaws of hate-crime laws, she says, is their focus on punishment. 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. Watson entered a not guilty plea to charges of murder and elder abuse causing death during the brief court appearance. She stepped out to check the front and the back of their building. He often lightened the mood after she argued with her husband, teasing that his daughter talked too much. 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. Now all that remained was the memory of him, the sound of his voice in her head. reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader. 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. / CBS San Francisco. I killed Dad.. The law was celebrated for recognizing the need to better track violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. There may be a logic behind that. Why would you call me when my father just died? In the next life, I hope Ill get to be your daughter again. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. Knowing what happened with SARS, how Asians were going to get shunned, harassed, he says, referring to the 2003 outbreak, I was just personally and sociologically alerted to racism., Jeung set up search alerts for Asian American and discrimination. The results confirmed his fears. Their marigold robes glowed in the sun. SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) A man charged in the brutal assault of an 84-year-old San Francisco man that was captured on video last month will remain in custody following a court hearing Monday. It's not clear Watson's motivation. 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. The court system, which they thought would deliver swift justice, was confoundingly slow. Otherwise youre going to have that forever. Monthanuss body went numb. 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. Then, on a brisk and misty Northern California winter morning last month, he stepped outside. Or am I just sensitive? "Look, I believe in second chances. ga('ads.send', { At the time of the attack, Mr. Vicha was only months away from being able to return to Thailand. SAN FRANCISCO - In two unrelated cases, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said his office has filed charges against Lawrence Thomas and Tyjone Flournoy for the murder of 76-year-old private investigator Jack Palladino, and Antoine Watson for the murder of 86-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. After the last court hearing, Monthanus called the victims advocate assigned to her by the district attorneys office to request a Thai translator. His death helped awaken the nation to a rise in anti-Asian violence. $300,000 a year is roughly what a family of four needs to earn to live a middle-class lifestyle in the Bay Area. It was then that Mr. Vicha walked up Anzavista Avenue, a street with views of skyscrapers in the citys financial district. 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. You can dial 311 or 911, she reminded them. 19-year-old Antoine Watson, pushing . The 2023 salary cap has already been set . That he still had a life ahead of him. 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. 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. This is a hate crime.. As Vicha recovered from each operation, Monthanus had slept on the floor next to his bed, comforting him through the pain. 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. Give him a chance, she could hear her father saying. Six of the victims two women of Chinese descent, four women of Korean descent worked at the businesses targeted by the gunman, an unequivocal sign for many of those watching that he acted out of hatred, misogyny and racism. How many Vicha Ratanapakdees need to happen before you see anything at all?. The suspect, Antoine Watson, was arrested and charged with murder and is pending trial. In a quiet room upstairs draped in gold and red, she knelt before a shrine of Buddhas, vases filled with fresh tulips and a black-and-white portrait of her father. Around 10 p.m., a new search result popped up. MonthanusRatanapakdee with her husband, Eric Lawson. 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. 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. 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. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Watson is accused in the deadly attack of Vicha Ratanapakdee in the city's Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28. In each case, the suspects were Black. Lucas Manfredi is a general assignment reporter for Fox News. 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. Most of the victims were Asian.. He was booked on suspicion of murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. His comments tugged at a bigger, messier debate about race that had been building around the attacks. For months Mr. Vicha had been pining to return to Thailand but was unable to because of the pandemic. hitType: 'event', For the past two years, Monthanus had started taking care of her parents more intensely, after her mother was diagnosed with dementia and her father with three clogged arteries. 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. 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. His wife suggested that he have some coffee first; he told her he wouldnt be gone for long, whispering so as not to wake the kids. Two days after Vicha died, Eric created a GoFundMe page to raise money for the funeral, which included a photo of Vicha and a description of his assailant derived from a mix of facts and raw emotion: A despicable 19-year-old thug that came to his neighborhood in a stolen vehicle and decided to prove how tough he was by brutalizing a senior citizen, Eric wrote. He was arrested along with Maylasia Goo, 20 . There was no evidence depicted that the elderly man did anything to provoke the attack. The Department of Police stated that they identified Watson quickly. He was cited by the San Francisco police for running a stop sign and reckless driving and then slept that night in his car. His public defender, Sliman Nawabi, challenged the murder charge, arguing that Watson did not intend to kill Vicha. My wife and I thought, Could it be? Jeung recalled. A web camera streamed the ceremony for friends and family abroad. Where did the assault happen? She clutched a few sheets of paper in one hand. 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. But once he does, we should work out some kind of situation where we could forgive somehow and move on with our life. 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 . assault in Western Addition that led to the death an 84-year-old man, police said. The killing of a Thai man in America has given voice to a united community under the umbrella of an Asian-American identity. Antoine Watson, 19, . }); That older victim has been wrongly described in many news accounts as Asian. 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.