Asian students racially attacked by taser-wielding man on SF bus
By Carl Samson
Families and students of Lowell High School in San Francisco are demanding a hate crime investigation and increased police presence after a man brandished a stun gun in an anti-Asian attack on a Muni bus last week.
Key points:
- The man, who has not been arrested, verbally attacked Asian passengers, including students from Lowell High School, before taking out a taser to threaten a woman.
- The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) are investigating and enhancing security, but concerns persist about transit safety and hate crime prevention.
- The incident follows another attack on two older Asian men in Union Square on the same day.
The details:
- The incident reportedly occurred on the 29 Sunset inbound bus at around 3 p.m. on May 1. Lowell students present recounted the events with local media, describing how a man at the back of the vehicle began accusing Asians of “ruining the country” and demanding they “go back” to theirs.
- “I don’t know what instigated it,” one of the students, a 14-year-old Vietnamese American, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He all of a sudden became very aggressive and started cussing out Asians, saying the c-slur.”
- When confronted by a 16-year-old girl and a woman, the man became more aggressive and pulled out a stun gun, threatening the woman. At this point, the bus driver stopped the vehicle and evacuated the passengers, while the man exited and continued north on Sunset Boulevard.
- The SFMTA and the SFPD are working together to investigate the incident. No arrests have been made.
- The incident has left students and parents traumatized, with some considering changes in their commute habits. While crime on Muni has decreased by 75% since 2015, incidents like this highlight ongoing safety concerns.
- Liz Le, the parent of the 14-year-old student, is now considering driving him to school. “This time it was a taser. What if it was a gun or a knife? I worry for him,” Le told the San Francisco Standard.
- The incident comes amid a backdrop of rising anti-Asian hate crimes in San Francisco, including the recent attack on two men, aged 59 and 78, in the Union Square area. The assailant in that incident also remains at large.
What’s next:
- Authorities are reviewing bus surveillance footage and stepping up security measures through the MuniSafe program. Community members, on the other hand, are urging for more aggressive prevention of hate crimes and increased police presence on transport buses.
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