An Asian American man who was brutally attacked by a father-son duo has sued San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
Anh Le, 69, said he was walking in Chinatown in November 2019 when a father, later identified as Jimmy Tanner Sr., and his teenage son attacked him with a baseball bat and a glass bottle, threatening to kill him.
Boudin's office allowed the father to plead to misdemeanor battery. The DA's office also did not charge a hate crime. Tanner received a year of probation.
“The attack was the most brutal, terrifying and humiliating experience of my life and has stayed with me ever since,” Le said Tuesday at a press conference held by the Alliance for Asian American Justice. He called Tanner's punishment a "slap on the wrist."
Boudin is one of several high profile DAs elected in large part due to funding from leftist billionaire George Soros.
The lawsuit filed against the city and Boudin seeks declarations that Le‘s rights were violated as well as stronger protections for Asian American victims of hate crimes. Le also plans to pursue a civil case against Jimmy Tanner, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Le said Boudin's office allowed Tanner to plead to a misdemeanor “without consulting me, without any input from me at all, and in violation of my rights as a victim.”
Le said he had told the Tanner's teenage son to be careful while he was riding his bicycle on a busy sidewalk, and had nearly crashed into him.
Tanner Sr.'s teenage son hit Le repeatedly with the bat, before his father held up a glass bottle and threatened to kill the elderly man. According to NextShark, Tanner Sr. was detained for battery, felony elder abuse and terroristic threats.
Boudin's office refused to prosecute either Tanner Sr. or his son with a hate crime, and agreed to a lenient plea deal with the father.
On Tuesday, new statistics released by the San Francisco police department revealed that there was a 527 percent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in San Francisco in 2021 compared with the previous year.
Boudin’s office released a statement defending its record, saying that “DA Boudin has been a steadfast advocate for improved victim services and support for the AAPI [Asian American Pacific Islander] community.”
The lawsuit said Le‘s attacker was given a “very lenient plea deal” while the victim suffered “callous and cavalier” treatment at the hands of Boudin's office.
For example, the lawsuit said Boudin's office issued a protective order that botched Le’s name and misstated his age, raising questions about the order’s enforceability, then refused for months to correct it despite the victim’s repeated requests.
“In sum, despite claiming on its website that ‘the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office works to empower survivors of crime,’ in reality, the DA’s office has not only failed to empower or protect Mr. Le, but actually exacerbated and further compounded the trauma and indignities he suffered at the hands of the Tanners,” the lawsuit said.
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