A 76-year-old Asian woman was not prepared to back down when a much younger man attacked her in the streets of San Francisco on Wednesday. Instead she fought back, leaving the assailant bloodied and in need of medical assistance.
Speaking with KPIX-TV San Francisco, Xiao Zhen Xie explained that she had been standing by a traffic light when the suspect punched her in the face. Her natural reaction was to grab a nearby stick and hit him back.
In video footage caught by the channel's sports director, Dennis O’Donnell, Xie is seen shouting and sobbing while holding an ice pack to her face. Her attacker lies on a stretcher with a bloodied mouth. He appears to be bewildered.
"You bum, why did you hit me?" she shouts at the man in Chinese.
Commenting on the scene, O’Donnell described coming across "a guy on a stretcher" and a "frustrated angry woman" with a stick in her hand.
"The woman said that she was hit. She attacked back," he said. "From what I could see, she wanted more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her back."
Xie is the latest victim in a wave of attacks against Asians in the area. According to police, an 83-year-old Asian man was also assaulted Wednesday morning. A 39-year-old man is now under investigation for both attacks. It is unclear if racial bias is a motive.
"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," said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott.
Both Xie and the suspect were taken to hospital for treatment.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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