A San Francisco man, 39, attacked a 76-year-old Asian woman, who defended herself and sent him to hospital.
On Wednesday, a 39-year-old man punched Xiao Zhen Xie in the face in broad daylight while she was standing at a crossing on San Francisco’s Market Street. The 76-year-old woman managed to defend herself with a stick she found nearby, but she suffered severe eye injuries, as Daily Mail reports.
As per KPIX 5, Ms. Xie is the latest victim in a surge of attacks on Asians in the Bay Area.
The unidentified attacker was taken away on a stretcher after the elderly woman fought back and left his face covered in blood. Ms. Xie even tried to continue beating him in a bid to defend herself while yelling at her bully: “You bum, why did you hit me?!”, but the police stopped her.
The attack comes amid a wave of aggression targeting Asians in the U.S.
KPIX Sports Director Dennis O’Donnell caught the scene on camera after he came across the fight during his morning run. He commented:
“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.”
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Ms. Xie’s daughter, Dong-Mei Li, and the retirement home she has been living in for 26 years claimed the victim was “very traumatized” and “very scared.” They added that one of her eyes is still bleeding, and she has even lost sight in her left eye.
John Chen, Ms. Xie’s grandson, set a GoFundMe page to help his grandma recover from the incident.
In the fundraiser’s description, Chen wrote:
“I am fundraising for 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.”
Kindhearted donators raised $590,457, despite a goal of only $50,000, to help Ms. Xie and her family cover medical expenses, therapy treatment, and other bills.
Ms. Xie’s abuser is also investigated for another attack against an 83-year-old Asian man.
San Fransisco police are currently investigating both cases. Police Chief Bill Scott 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.”
Both Scott and Mayor London Breed stated there would be more targeted patrols in the city after a dramatic rise in aggression against Asians.
Ms. Xie’s case was the second attack involving an Asian person on Market Street just this week. On Monday, as Danny Yu Chang, 59, was going back to work from his lunch break, he was severely beaten. He suffered head and face injuries that left him partially blind.
On the GoFundMe page Chang set for himself, he asks donators to help him look for a safer place to stay because after being assaulted, he is “no longer comfortable living in California.”
The racially-motivated incidents targeting Asians in the U.S. have drastically escalated in the last year.
Another hate-crime towards Asian-Americans terrified the states. On Tuesday, Robert Aaron Long, 21, shot and killed six Asian women in Atlanta, Georgia.
The social service StopAAPIHate said they received 3,795 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents between March 19, 2020, and February 28, 2021. Shockingly, nearly 1,700 attacks took place in California.
Some activists claim the hate-crimes against Asians are closely related to former President Donald Trump’s attitude towards COVID-19, repeatedly calling it the “China virus.”
