A celebratory occasion turned to tragedy for a Thai and Chinese American man attacked near San Francisco City Hall.
It could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for a group of up to six bystanders who attempted to intervene and shield him from his attacker.
A man who only wants to be identified as Jesse said he was returning home after picking up his marriage license when he said he was attacked and subjected to racial insults.
He spoke to Dion Lim of ABC7 News exclusively, telling her the man called him a “stupid Asian”, hit him in the ear, and demanded money. The attacker then knocked his phone to the ground and punched him in the eye.
The incident on Friday happened exactly one year after an attacker killed another Thai American man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, by knocking him into the ground into a concrete sidewalk also in San Francisco.
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This is the second time Jesse has been a victim of violence.
He said in 2019, someone stabbed him on his birthday in an attempted robbery. He showed Lim photos of his wounds as well as a police report.
“All the emotion from 2019 when I got stabbed came back again,” he told Lim. “I just want…to walk on the street without fear we can walk on the street. Like normal. Why do we have to hate?”
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