Just days after San Francisco police increased patrols and posted Chinese language fliers in and around Chinatown to increase safety and awareness, a newly released surveillance video shows a 67-year old Asian man being attacked by three men in Chinatown/Nob Hill on Feb. 23.
The video shows the man man sitting in a chair when the suspects enter the laundromat and ambush him. He’s dragged to the ground and according to reports, robbed of several hundred dollars.
WARNING: VIOLENT CONTENT
"Oh my God he looks so scared...it's horrible and so concerning," a nearby business owner said after seeing the video, according to ABC7’s Dion Lim. "It's so hard to watch...an old man shoved down like that is so helpless." ⠀
The SFPD has set up a Chinese language reporting hotline at 415-558-5588.
“The victim suffered non-life threatening injuries from the attack. At this time we do not have a suspect in custody for this open and active investigation,” according to NextShark.
The SF Police Officers Association is offering a $2,500 reward to anyone who has information that may lead to the arrest of the three assailants.
Attacks on Asian Americans are on the rise, with several across the state.
An Air Force veteran is speaking out about the day he was attacked on Feb. 24 in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, an incident police are now investigating as a hate crime.
Denny Kim, 27, told ABC4 at the time that he was called racist anti-Asian slurs by two men who threatened to kill him.
"I was terrified for my life, as you can see the physical injuries on my face," Kim said. "And I didn’t know what to think of it. It was all just a blur...I was just trying to defend my life."
A 16-year-old boy in the San Fernando Valley was physically attacked in the days following Valentine’s Day by bullies in his high school who accused him of having the coronavirus — simply because he is Asian American. It is just the latest episode in a spree of racist incidents linked to the global health emergency over the novel coronavirus.
On March 2, several Los Angeles City Council members introduced motions and a resolution in an attempt to address a rise in hate crimes and harassment against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
One motion -- which was introduced by Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez and Councilmen John Lee, Mitch O'Farrell and Joe Buscaino -- calls for the Los Angeles Police Department to report on data of the increased crimes against Asian Americans and on the department's response to the trend. It also instructs the police department to report on potential resources it could use to reduce instances of hate crimes against Asian Americans and cultural sites and to identify and prosecute suspects responsible for the crimes.