Photo by Carol M. Highsmith via Wikimedia Commons
The 54-year-old man accused of stabbing two Asian women in San Francisco pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder and other charges, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. District Attorney Chesa Boudin said he would not be pursuing hate crime charges at this point in time.
Police arrested Patrick Thompson in San Francisco last Tuesday. They say he stabbed two elderly Asian women, ages 85 and 63, near a bus stop, KTVU reports.
Thompson’s public defender said he refused to come to court and entered not guilty pleas on his behalf Monday.
Boudin said that given the number of recent attacks on Asian Americans, he felt the need to step in and prosecute the case personally.
“I’m outraged at the violence against the vulnerable elderly members in our community,” Boudin said, according to KTVU. “We’ve seen a wave of violence against Asian American Pacific Islanders in particular. Enough is enough.”
However, he added that there was not sufficient evidence to pursue hate crime charges.
“Here, based on available evidence, we could not even prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew they were Asian, much less that their identity is what motivated the crime,” Boudin said, according to KTVU.
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