Bystanders Rush To Help Asian Police Officer As She Was Attacked By Suspect
Members of the public hurried to help an Asian police officer when she was attacked by a suspect.
A video has surfaced of a police officer in San Francisco attempting to arrest a homeless man when the situation took a dangerous turn. The homeless man attacked the Asian police officer, prompting members of the public to intervene.
The officer involved in the incident has not been named but was identified as an Asian female by police. It has been reported that the officer was responding to a call about a person making threats.
You can see the footage of the altercation below:
The surveillance video shows the homeless man initially responding to the police officer’s request to stop, turn around and put his hands on his head. The man insists he has no weapons before turning and hitting the officer in the face. He then seems to push the officer’s head into the ground while he grapples with her.
In response, four members of the public respond to the scene and tell the man to get off the officer. Eventually, more officers arrive and arrest the man.
One of the people who helped the officer who was attacked, Michael Waldorf, told ABC 7 News:
It was a big guy, he was not letting go. He had a death grip on her and he was not letting go, I felt like it was an emergency. I felt like he could really do damage, you know, that – if we don’t get him off of her right away, he could do some damage.
I’m glad she’s okay and I appreciate her service.
6 months agoThis incident comes after the San Francisco Police Department reports ‘a rise in violent attacks by homeless individuals’. The SFPD went on to explain the officer was acting alone because of staff shortages and thanked those who got involved, ‘We are deeply grateful to these citizens who rushed to our officer’s aide.’
Police are now investigating exactly what happened and are considering whether the incident was a hate crime.
The US has seen a sharp increase in verbal and physical assaults against Asian Americans, particularly women. According to Stop AAPI Hate, in the first three months of this year, there has seen at least 2,410 anti-Asian hate incidents, which is more than half of the incidents that occurred in the whole of 2020.
Featured Image Credit: CNN
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Topics: News, Now, Police, San Francisco, US
