A man caught on video violently shoving an 84-year-old Thai grandfather to the ground in San Francisco in 2021 was found not guilty of murder and elder abuse on Thursday, in a case that became a nationwide symbol of rising attacks against Asians during the coronavirus pandemic.
The jury instead found the man, Antoine Watson, guilty of lesser offenses, including involuntary manslaughter and assault with force likely to cause injury.
The attack, in January 2021, was caught on security camera footage. It shows Mr. Watson, who was 19 at the time, charging at full speed into Vicha Ratanapakdee, who was out on his regular morning walk in the Anza Vista neighborhood of San Francisco. Mr. Vicha, a retired auditor from Thailand, died of a brain hemorrhage in a hospital two days later.
The video quickly went viral, particularly among Asian Americans who saw in the killing of Mr. Ratanapakdee, who became known as “Grandpa Vicha,” their fears about the safety of their own older family members coming true.
The jury will hear arguments on aggravating factors later this month, after which sentencing will be scheduled. Mr. Watson could face up to nine years in prison.
During the trial, which began in early December, Mr. Watson did not deny shoving Mr. Ratanapakdee. But the verdict ultimately hinged on whether Mr. Watson had maliciously attacked the elderly man and whether he knew, or should have known, that doing so could result in his death.
Prosecutors asserted that Mr. Watson had intentionally attacked Mr. Ratanapakdee in order to inflict the maximum amount of harm. Mr. Watson’s lawyers from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office argued that he had acted impulsively in an emotional moment and had not intended to kill Mr. Ratanapakdee.
The night before the attack, his lawyers said, Mr. Watson had been involved in a family dispute and a traffic accident, and then fell asleep in his car. The next morning, he was unable to start his car. A neighbor testified that Mr. Watson was yelling.
Around that time, Mr. Watson said, he saw Mr. Ratanapakdee in a baseball cap and face mask, standing on a street corner looking at him.
During the trial, Mr. Watson testified that he felt Mr. Ratanapakdee was judging him. He also said that he could not tell Mr. Ratanapakdee’s race or age.
The brief and grainy video footage shows what happened next: a tall figure suddenly hurtling across a street and slamming into a smaller figure, who then crumples onto the pavement. Mr. Watson did not call 911.
While prosecutors did not bring hate crime charges, Mr. Ratanapakdee’s family described his killing as racially motivated, and many other Asian Americans saw it that way, too.
“It was such a stark, violent killing,” said Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University and the co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit coalition. “That incident, combined with the documented rise in anti-Asian hate and the other attacks on Asian elders at the time, made him the lightning rod of the movement.”
Mano Raju, the elected head of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, said in an emailed statement that “while this death was a terrible tragedy and has garnered a lot of press attention, the importance of our legal system is that it gives us a chance to look at the facts in a balanced way.”
Five years after Mr. Ratanapakdee’s death, the movement to raise awareness about hate against Asian Americans has evolved. Recently, much of the focus has been on rising anti-South Asian rhetoric online and the growing numbers of Asians being ensnared in President Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
But around San Francisco, tributes to Mr. Ratanapakdee can still be seen in the colorful mosaic stairway dedicated to his memory. There was also a mural that had been installed in his honor in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, but it was taken down last week.
In a telephone interview on Friday, Mr. Ratanapakdee’s daughter, Monthanus Ratanapakdee, spoke proudly about how her father had become an important symbol for Asian Americans.
But she also expressed disappointment with the verdict and what she said was a lack of remorse shown by Mr. Watson during the trial. She said she planned to press forward with a lawsuit and would continue to work on raising awareness about elder abuse and public safety.
“I also want my father’s legacy to be one of accountability,” she said.
Amy Qin writes about Asian American communities for The Times.
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