Elderly Asian woman fights back, sends attacker to hospital

Dennis O’Donnell of KPIX stumbled on attack Wednesday morning on Market Street, capturing the aftermath on video. The victim, a 75-year-old Asian woman, told reporters that a man punched her as she leaned against a light pole minding her own business, but she refused to go down without a fight.

The suspect, seen in video footage handcuffed to a gurney, was apparently met with serious resistance. His face appears bloody and she with a wooden board in hand, which she may have used to beat back her assailant.

Videos show the victim crying, holding an ice pack to the left side of her face, which appears swollen. In Chinese, she can be heard saying to the man still nearby:

“You bum. Why did you bully me?”

The scene played out around 10:30 a.m. on Market Street and Charles J. Brenham Place. Police have not made mention of a motive or if the attack was in any way race-related, but they did say they are investigating the incident as an aggravated assault.

Attacks on Asian people skyrocketed in 2020 and that problem has only gotten worse in the first months of this year, as reported by the Stop AAPI Hate program.

According to O’Donnell’s reporting, both the victim and suspect were transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries.