Hate crimes against Asian Americans are running rampant in California, with the latest incident involving an 80-year-old man being attacked and robbed by three teens.
The attack, which was caught on video, occurred in San Leandro, California on Saturday afternoon, NBC Bay Area reports. Footage shows two teens in hoods and masks pushing the man to the ground, with a third teen walking up as the robbery is happening. They can be heard laughing as the man calls for help, before getting into a dark-colored sedan and fleeing the scene. Per the report, the culprits stole the man’s Fitbit watch.
Police believe the suspects could be 16 or older. A neighbor told the outlet that the teens also tried to take the man’s wallet, “but luckily he wasn’t seriously injured.” The neighbor also said he heard the man tell the police that he believed “he was targeted for being Asian as well.”
“Pay attention to my surroundings,” the man’s relative said of how the incident has affected him and his family. “Yeah, normally that wasn’t the case; I could walk freely down the street, not have a care. That is something I have to factor in when I go out.”
According to a victim demographic study done by the San Leandro Police Department, attacks against Asian Americans in San Leandro have surged by 283 percent from 2019 to 2020, a city that boasts an Asian American population of 36 percent. Lt. Ali Kahn told ABC 7 the police department was “equally as shocked” when they ran the numbers and received the study’s results.
