San Francisco police make arrest in brutal assault on 70-year-old Asian former city commissioner

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San Francisco police made an arrest Sunday in connection to the assault of a 70-year-old former city commissioner and confirmed they are investigating whether the victim was targeted because he’s Asian.

Greg Chew, a longtime San Francisco resident who as served on several city commissions, said he was attacked at approximately 7:38 p.m. on Aug. 2 at Folsom Street and 3rd Street, not far from his home in the South Market area. Six days later, the San Francisco Police Department announced on Sunday that 34-year-old city resident Derrick Yearby was identified as the suspect and placed under arrest. 

Yearby was transported to San Francisco County Jail where he was booked on charges aggravated battery causing serious bodily injury, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, elder abuse and great bodily injury enhancement. 

So far, he is not charged with a hate crime over the attack. The sheriff's office website lists his bail at $50,000. 

SAN FRANCISCO BEATING OF 70-YEAR-OLD ASIAN WOMAN: POLICE SEEK 11-YEAR-OLD, 3 OTHER YOUNG SUSPECTS  

An anti-Asian hate march, organized by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, started at San Francisco City Hall and ended at Union Square on Saturday, March 27, 2021. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

At a press conference on Sunday, San Francisco police Officer Kathryn Winters did confirm investigators are looking into whether the incident was racially motivated, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

"Fortunately in this incident, there was good photos and video," Winters told reporters, according to KGO-TV. "Officers in this incident were able to locate and identify this suspect fairly quickly. So some great officers out there in the field doing good police work."

Chew told The Chronicle that he suffered a badly swollen eye and a broken left shoulder from the attack. He said his assailant didn’t say anything and didn’t rob him, recalling how he blacked out upon hitting the pavement and later checked his pockets, finding his wallet and cell phone both still there. 

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

A bystander called police for help. 

"I didn’t even know what happened," Chew told the newspaper. "It’s a surreal experience."

The San Francisco Police Department said officers assigned to Southern Station responded on a report of an aggravated assault on Aug. 2, and the 70-year-old victim told officers he had been struck by an unknown suspect and knocked to the ground, according to a press release Sunday. 

The victim, who was not named in the release, was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. At approximately 11:28 a.m. Sunday, Tenderloin Station officers observed a male in the area of 8th Street and Market Street who matched the suspect’s description.

Officers detained the suspect, who was identified as Yearby. 

"Officers developed probable cause to arrest Yearby," the press release said. 

While an arrest has been made, the investigation into the incident is ongoing, police said. 

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Anyone with information is asked to call the San Francisco Police Department Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. Tipsters can remain anonymous, police said. 

In another recent incident sparking outrage, San Francisco police have yet to arrest any suspects in the caught-on-camera brutal beating of a 70-year-old Asian woman insider her senior living complex. Fox News Digital previously reported that the suspects sought are an 11-year-old Black boy, a 13-year-old Black girl, a 14-year-old Black girl and a Black male who just turned 18. 

The Chronicle reported that as many as 200 people took to the streets of San Francisco near Chinatown on Sunday in response to the incident with protesters calling to "stop Asian hate."