Hooded Suspect Shoves 91-Year-Old Man
Daily Mail, February 6, 2021
A graphic video shows the moment a 91-year-old man was pushed to ground in Oakland’s Chinatown, as community leaders warn that the area has been hit by a violent crime wave.
The attacker, wearing, a black hood and mask, is captured on CCTV shoving the elderly man to the ground and nearly into the road, outside the Asian Resource Center in the Bay Area city in California.
After running off the suspect then pushed a man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s, who lost consciousness from her injuries, Oakland Police Department reported.
They were all treated in a local hospital before being released.
The incident is one of more than 20 in recent months that community leaders claim is a crime wave targeting Asian people.
Carl Chan, president of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, warned residents in a press conference on Wednesday that the neighborhood is under attack and pleaded for more police protection ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations on February 12.
Chan added: ‘Unfortunately, they are not only robbing the people, but people are also being hurt.’
Residents group board member Chiu Szeto said ‘We are living in fear every day’, and that he fears some of the attacks are racially motivated against Asian Americans, as a result of the pandemic.
Captain Bobby Hookfin with the Oakland Police Department, said in the press conference: ‘They appear to be more violent, for whatever reason and that’s why we need to stop this now’ , as reported by ABC7 News.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf: ‘I want to start by apologizing to the victims of these heinous crimes’, before criticizing moves by some on the Oakland City Council to cut the city’s police budget by as much as 50 percent.
She added: ‘I have not forgotten, that this last summer, they brought a proposal to cut $25 million from the Oakland police department as a political statement, not because of operational or financial need.’
More than 20 incidents of small businesses getting robbed and owners, customers and residents assaulted have been reported in recent months, Chan claimed.
In one other video from January, a suspect enters a Chinatown herbal shop run by women, before snatching cash and running off.
One woman was reportedly shot with a flare gun as she walked down the street.
One Oakland resident, Jacob Azevedo, is taking matters into his own hands, in terms of supporting the city’s elderly in the midst of these attacks.
He launched a GoFundMe, raising $11,000 to buy vulnerable members of the community personal alarm systems.
‘Help us make our elderly community here in Oakland feel a little safer to walk down the street!!’ Jacob said on the post.
He added: ‘I got fed up seeing all these videos surfacing against the Asian American community here.’
