SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A man charged in the brutal assault of an 84-year-old San Francisco man that was captured on video last month will remain in custody following a court hearing Monday. The San Francisco District Attorney’s office told KPIX 5 on Monday that their detention motion to hold 19-year-old Antoine Watson without bail was granted by the court. Watson is accused in the deadly attack of Vicha Ratanapakdee in the city’s Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28. He has pled not guilty to charges of murder and elder abuse causing death. Antoine Watson appears in court during a previous hearing. (CBS) Surveillance video showed Ratanapakdee walking in the driveway of a home when the suspect barrels him into the victim violently, knocking him to the ground before the suspect casually walks away in the same direction he came from. Police said they were quickly able to identify Watson as the assault suspect. According to the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, Watson had been observed and contacted by San Francisco Police officers earlier that morning for traffic infractions resulting in a minor collision and was issued a citation. Body camera footage of the encounter led officers to identify Watson and a female associate he was with at the time of the assault. Watson and his associate, 20-year-old Malaysia Goo, were arrested on January 30 without incident. Last week, Mayor London Breed, joined by Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney Chesa Boudin, said violence in San Francisco would not be tolerated and that any perpetrators would “be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” especially those who targeted children or the elderly. ...
Chesa boudin
California DA responds to attacks against elderly Asians, as activists claim coronavirus pandemic to blame
close Video Police set up patrols amid increase of attacks on elderly in Oakland 91-year-old man violently pushed to the ground. The suspect has been arrested. A northern California district attorney announced Monday that a new special response unit was created in the wake of recent attacks against Asians, particularly elderly Asians, in Oakland’s Chinatown, as activists have argued that other violence in San Francisco and New York shows a pattern of abuse related to blame placed on the Asian American community for the coronavirus pandemic. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley announced the inception of a special task force, saying during a news conference in Oakland’s Chinatown Monday that the "rapid increase in criminal acts targeted against members of the Asian community, particularly Chinese Americans, who live and work in Alameda County, is intolerable." CALIFORNIA'S CHINATOWN ON EDGE AFTER ROBBERIES, ASSAULTS ON ELDERLY DURING COVID LOCKDOWNS "It's not unique to Chinatown or to the Asian community the increase in crime we've seen across the city and across the county, but we have seen in the last several weeks and month a very specific increase in crimes committed against Asians," O'Malley said. "To still be calling it 'Chinese virus,' things like that, that fuels hate and fuels aggression and that hate and aggression results in many times – sometimes it's words – but a lot of times it's through committing assault or other types of crimes." The Oakland Police Department has reallocated resources and is stepping up patrols ahead of the Lunar New Year this coming Friday. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly described the coronavirus or COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus," a reference to its outbreak from Wuhan, China. Just six days after taking office, President Biden issued a memorandum condemning "inflammatory and xenophobic rhetoric" that has put Asian American and Pacific ...
Prosecutor son seeks father’s release in fatal 1981 Brink’s heist
close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for February 19 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. David Gilbert went to prison a revolutionary, raising his fist and scorning authorities who prosecuted him for an infamous 1981 armored truck robbery in which a guard and two police officers were killed. Four decades later, advocates for the 76-year-old inmate’s release include San Francisco ’s chief prosecutor, the son left behind at 14 months old when both his parents were arrested. "As long as I can remember, I’ve known that the most likely scenario is that my father is going to die in prison," said Chesa Boudin, sworn in as district attorney last year. In this Nov. 23, 1981, file photo, Rockland County and others lead a handcuffed David Gilbert from Rockland County Court in New City, N.Y., after a hearing in Gilbert's felony murder case. Gilbert was convicted of murder in the deaths of two Nyack police officers and a Brink's guard during an infamous botched robbery considered one of the last gasps of '60s radicalism. Gilbert's son Chesa Boudin, now the San Francisco chief district attorney, and others are seeking clemency from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for Gilbert, now 76 and still imprisoned for the Oct. 20, 1981, robbery. The case is more pressing due to the increased risk of COVID-19 among prisoners. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, File) Boudin ran a progressive campaign in which he said visiting his parents Kathy Boudin and Gilbert in prison showed him the criminal justice system was broken. Gilbert is among the last surviving people still imprisoned in the bungled 1981 Brink’s robbery north of New York City, often seen as a last gasp of ’60s radicalism. The robbery still stirs emotions, especially among local officials and relatives of the slain men who have watched with exasperation as others convicted in the crime, including Kathy Boudin, walk out of ...
New York prison gives coronavirus vaccine to Democratic San Francisco DA’s convicted murderer father
close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for February 26 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. San Francisco’s Democratic district attorney announced Friday that his convicted murderer father received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in a New York prison. "Amazing news," Chesa Boudin tweeted Friday afternoon. "My incarcerated father just got his first vaccine shot! I hope that once I get my vaccine, and the prison reopens for visitors, I will be able to see him again for the first time in over a year." Boudin’s dad, David Gilbert, 76, was convicted of felony murder in connection with the infamous Brinks’ heist in 1981, which left two police officers and a guard dead. His mother, Kathy Boudin, was also convicted and paroled in 2003. Gilbert was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison for his role in the robbery, in which members of the Weather Underground and Black Liberation Army stole $1.6 million from a Brink’s armored truck in upstate New York. FILE - In this November 2019, file photo provided by Chesa Boudin, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, second from left, is shown with his now-wife Valerie Block, far left, his father David Gilbert, and mother Kathy Boudin, right at Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, N.Y. (Courtesy of Chesa Boudin via AP) During the course of the crime, Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown of the Nyack Police Department and Brink’s guard Peter Paige were killed. PROSECUTOR SON SEEKS FATHER'S RELEASE IN FATAL 1981 BRINK'S HEIST Gilbert was an unarmed getaway driver and is not eligible for parole until 2056. Boudin appealed to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week asking for clemency for his father, in part because of his vulnerability to the coronavirus. Cuomo’s office said the governor does not comment on active clemency requests. Gilbert’s vaccination comes as millions of Americans ...
