Xiao Zhen Xie, a 76-year-old Asian woman, decided to fight back Wednesday after an attacker punched her while she was standing on the sidewalk in San Francisco.
The unprovoked attacker punched Xie while she was waiting at a traffic light, reports KPIX 5.
Just came upon an attack on an elderly Asian woman on Market Street San Francisco. Effort I got more details pic.twitter.com/5o8r0eeHE2
— Dennis O’Donnell (@DennisKPIX) March 17, 2021
“You bum, why did you hit me?” Xie reportedly shouted in Chinese.
“She found the stick around the area and fought back,” Xie’s daughter Dong-Mei Li said, according to KPIX-5. Both Xie and her attacker were taken to the hospital as a result of the incident.
Xie, who has lived in San Francisco for 26 years, said she was very shaken up by the unprovoked attack. (RELATED: Psaki: ‘No Question’ Trump Saying ‘Wuhan Virus’ Contributed To Rise In Attacks Against Asian Americans)
Xie cannot see out of her left eye and has not been able to eat since the attack according to Li, reports KPIX 5.
“As you can see she is extremely terrified. She’s terrified to even step out,” Xie’s grandson John Chen said, according to KPIX 5.
“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,” San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said, reports KPIX 5.
Reports of violent hate crimes committed against Asian Americans are rapidly increasing across the country. In 2020, the number of reported incidents of Asian American hate crimes in 16 American cities rose almost 150% from 2019.