San Fran DA Jenkins announces new felony charges in assault on Asian elderly former city commissioner

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San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced formal felony charges on Wednesday against an alleged assailant accused of violently attacking elderly Asian former city commissioner Greg Chew. 

Jenkins announced felony assault and battery charges as well as felony elder abuse charges against Derrick Yearby, 34, of San Francisco. He was arrested by San Francisco police officers five days after allegedly attacking Chew, a former member of the city’s arts, film and immigrants’ rights commissions in the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 2.

The 70-year-old Chew was punched and violently thrown to the ground by an assailant whom he did not know, prosecutors said. 

Chew suffered a cut to the face, swelling and bruising to the face and a fractured left clavicle. The assailant did not speak during the attack and his motivation was unclear, prosecutors said. 

SAN FRANCISCO MAKE ARREST IN BRUTAL ASSAULT ON 70-YEAR-OLD ASIAN FORMER CITY COMMISSIONER 

Yearby was identified as the suspect and arrested on Aug. 7. Despite calls from protesters to "stop Asian hate," Yearby was not charged with a hate crime in connection to the assault on Chew. 

Brooke Jenkins attends a news conference at City Hall, Thursday, July 7, 2022, in San Francisco.  (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

The district attorney’s office charged Yearby Wednesday with felony assault with an enhancement for great bodily injury, felony battery causing serious bodily injury, and felony elder abuse with great bodily injury. The defendant was also charged with a misdemeanor vandalism charge.

Yearby made his first court appearance in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday. His arraignment was pushed to Friday. 

"Unprovoked, violent attacks against our AAPI communities must stop," Jenkins said in a statement. "These felony charges are the first step in seeking to hold violent offenders accountable and restoring confidence in our criminal justice system for victims of crime." 

Demonstrators hold up signs as they take part in an anti-Asian American hate march and rally at San Francisco City Hall on Saturday, March 27, 2021.  (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

In addition to filing felony charges, the district attorney’s office also filed a motion for detention to keep the defendant in custody while pending trial. The motion to detain was filed because of the violence and seriousness of the charges in this case, according to prosecutors. 

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Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Tip Line at: 1-415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. 

Tipsters can remain anonymous.