A surveillance video was released Thursday night that showed the moments leading up to the unprovoked attack in San Francisco against elderly Asian woman, Xiao Zhen Xie.
The legal team representing her assailant, Steven Jenkins, said the video proves the attack was not racially motivated.
San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Eric McBurney, in a rare move released the video and he said it backs up his claim.
McBurney explained what happened to Jenkins on March 17, before he allegedly attacked Xiao Zhen Xie.
“It shows that in that brief period of three minutes, he himself was the victim of unprovoked assaults from multiple parties, from multiple directions and as he was making his getaway the assault continues,” he said.
McBurney said his homeless and mentally ill client suffered more than 40 blows to his head and may have been disoriented before the attack.
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The images of a beaten Xiao Zhen Xie captured the eyes and hearts of the world.
The GoFund Me started by her grandson John Chen and it raised nearly a million dollars. All of which the Xie family has donated back to the AAPI community.
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“One of our main motivation in doing this is to communicate to them that this was not racially motivated," McBurney said.
NBC Bay Area reporter Ginger Conejero Saab asked McBurney if he believed there was a a rise in Asian American Pacific Islander hate crime.
“I see what other people see in the news, it does seem that way, it does appear that way. I’ve heard accounts from other Asians who’ve had similar experiences,” he said.
Jenkins currently does not face hate charges but is facing several felonies. He is due back in court on Friday.
