Asian Man Chases Off Attacker During Alleged Robbery Attempt in Oakland

Three bystanders called police, banged on windows, and shouted from a second-floor apartment as a man of Asian descent was attacked on a street in Oakland, California, on Saturday morning, April 10, in what was reported to be an attempted robbery.

According to local reports and the bystander who shot this video, the victim was a 57-year-old Asian man who spoke only Cantonese.

The attack occurred on 10th Street, near Jefferson Street, just after 7 am. The witness asked for their name to be withheld, saying, “It detracts from my goal of wanting to find the person that did this.”

Their footage shows a person wrestling and punching the victim on the sidewalk. The victim manages to get back on his feet and returns some blows on the attacker. A few moments later, the suspect runs across the street away from the victim, and into a parked vehicle. The victim briefly gives chase, but stops as the suspect pulls away in the car. The suspect failed to take the victim’s wallet, reports said.

As he runs, the bystanders, all of Asian descent themselves, are heard talking to police on the phone, banging on the windows and yelling, “We’re calling the police!”

According to those witnesses, the victim of the attack spoke only Cantonese, so they assisted him in filing a police report. "This person could be my grandpa, my uncle, my dad. It’s scary and it’s sad. Violence should not be tolerated. It needs to stop,” one of the witnesses said.

Storyful has reached out to the Oakland Police Department for more information about the incident, but we have not yet heard back. Credit: Storyful via Storyful