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An Asian-American man who was violently attacked in 2019 is suing San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, accusing the prosecutor of mishandling the case against his assailants – who beat him with a bat, threatened him with a glass bottle and told him: "I’m going to kill you," court papers show.
Anh Lê’s lawsuit against Boudin was filed just one day before the San Francisco Police Department announced an astonishing 567% increase in hate crimes against Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals.
"I am a survivor of a horrendous attack that took place in San Francisco with no consequences to the attackers."
The now-69-year-old victim slammed the liberal district attorney for refusing "to uphold the fundamental rights of Asian American victims of racially-motivated violence," and in turn failing to "recognize their humanity," the lawsuit states.
"In this case, as disturbing as the attack on Mr. Lê is, equally disturbing is his mistreatment by the DA’s office in the aftermath of his violent attack by the Tanner family," the complaint charges, referring to the suspect in the case. The 111-page suit was filed Monday in the Northern District of California.
"I am a survivor of a horrendous attack that took place in San Francisco with no consequences to the attackers," Lê said during a news conference announcing the suit. He said suspect Jimmy Tanner, whom he described as being 250 pounds, was arrested for felony terroristic threat, felony elder abuse and battery – but ultimately got off with a misdemeanor.
Anh Lê
He added: "Justice has not been served."
Lê was walking in San Francisco’s Chinatown on the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2019, when he saw a teenager riding his bicycle "very quickly on a crowded sidewalk" and headed toward him and other pedestrians, court papers state.
"You have to be careful, there’s people all over," Lê allegedly told the youth. The teen’s father, Jimmy Tanner, was nearby, according to the suit.
Devolved into violence
But what started with an allegedly polite request devolved into violence.
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"Without provocation, Tanner attacked Mr. Lê on a crowded sidewalk, threatened him with glass bottle, and told him, "I’m going to kill you!" the lawsuit states. "While Tanner was attacking Mr. Lê, Tanner’s son struck Mr. Lê repeatedly with a baseball bat."
The father and son then allegedly followed Lê for half a block before he could cross the street and call 911.
The public defender representing Tanner said later Wednesday that the bat used by the son was plastic.
"Out of fear for his safety, Mr. Tanner’s 11-year-old son took out his plastic baseball bat and swung it at Mr. Lê," the attorney, Sliman Nawabi, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Mr. Le refused medical attention that day and had no visible injuries from the plastic baseball bat. Mr. Le was never attacked by Mr. Tanner nor was a glass bottle used as a weapon against Mr. Le."
Nawabi also described his client as a "severely disabled man."
Lê, who is Vietnamese-American, said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the attack.
Lê later learned that Tanner and his son were linked to two more incidents in Chinatown that day, when they "terrorized Americans of Asian descent," according to the complaint.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco police did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request seeing information pertaining to the allegations.
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‘Slap on the wrist’
Boudin’s office then ignored Lê’s requests for help, failed to tell him about plea-bargaining discussions, told him he was not allowed to attend hearings related to the case against the Tanners, and never gave him the chance to read his victim impact statement – despite the existence of Marsy’s Law, which says that victims of crimes are allotted certain rights, the lawsuit alleges.
The DA’s office then gave Tanner "a slap on the wrist" plea deal that involved one year of probation but no jail time. Boudin’s office notified Lê "after the fact via a cursory email," the suit states.
Image from lawsuit against San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin shows email sent to attack victim Anh Lê notifying him of suspect's fate (Anh Lê v. Chesa Boudin et al )
Neither Tanner nor his son was charged with a hate crime, the lawsuit states.
"Of course, not every violence crime against a member of Asian American community is a hate crime," the complaint continues, "but here the Tanners’ violent unprovoked attacks on multiple groups of Asian Americans in Chinatown on the same day were evidently racially motivated."
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Rachel Marshall, director of communications for Boudin's office, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that Boudin "has been a steadfast advocate for improved victim services and support for the AAPI community."
"DA Boudin has presided over an historic expansion of Victim Services; has implemented new policies to improve language access to the courts; and has promoted Kasie Lee — who has a lengthy track record of advocacy in the AAPI community — to Chief of Victim Services," she said in a statement, in part. "DA Boudin has consistently sought additional funding to support victims. We will not stop fighting to ensure that every victim’s needs are met."
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin speaks to reporters before his swearing-in ceremony in San Francisco, Jan. 8, 2020. (Associated Press)
Marshall noted that the charging decision was made under former District Attorney Suzy Loftus. Marshall said police did not recommend hate crime charges in the case.
‘Pushed aside’
To make matters worse, the lawsuit claims, Boudin’s office allegedly refused for months to correct entry errors in the protective order barring Tanner from going near Lê and his other victims – failing to correctly state Lê’s full name and providing the wrong age for him.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Lê was ignored, pushed aside, and shuffled around like one of the DA’s office’s many files," the lawsuit continues. "Instead of treating Mr. Lê as an individual and a citizen who had suffered a brutally racially-motivated attack, the DA’s office made Mr. Lê feel invisible."
"Mr. Lê was ignored, pushed aside, and shuffled around like one of the DA’s office’s many files."
Boudin’s Twitter profile boasts the phrase "people powered" and is riddled with tweets in support of the AAPI community and victims of targeted attacks against Asian American individuals.
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"Together with other Bay Area prosecutors, we stand in support of the AAPI community and denounce hate and violence," he wrote in a tweet from March 2021 – while Lê’s case was still ongoing – featuring a joint statement from himself and other local leaders.
He moderated an "Anti-AAPI Violence & Hate Crimes" virtual summit in May 2021, titled: "Keeping Our AAPI Community Safe."
And months earlier, in November 2020, he tweeted, "Stop the hate and racism targeting our AAPI community!"
But Lê’s lawsuit paints a different picture.
"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. Lê, but actually exacerbated and further compounded the trauma and indignities he suffered at the hands of the Tanners," the suit states.
It adds: "The DA’s office’s empty promises fail to recognize and restore the dignity of Asian American victims of hate crimes.
Request for hate-crime data
Lê is asking for more support services for victims, namely those in the AAPI community who might face language barriers or difficulty with the legal process. He is also seeking the "release of complete hate crimes statistics and prosecution/sentencing/plea deal information related to these hate crimes" and more training for those who handle hate crimes cases.
Among other things, he is further asking a judge to require the DA’s office to notify AAPI hate crimes victims that they are entitled to submit a victim impact statement and "advise victims explicitly in writing when they have a right to appear at a hearing and that the DA’s office confirm with victims the language that will be used to represent their position."
Just Tuesday, Boudin’s office announced the creation of an "AAPI Elder Abuse Steering Committee," which convened for the first time on Monday.
The San Francisco police announced Tuesday that the number of victims of Anti-Asian hate crimes skyrocketed by 567% from 9 in 2020 to a staggering 60 in 2021.
Police Chief Bill Scott called the preliminary statistic "alarming," but added that the department had made arrests in the majority of the cases.
"We want the message to be loud and clear to everyone," Scott said during a news conference Tuesday. "We won’t tolerate it. We’re going to do something about it if it does happen, and we’re going to do everything we can to prevent it from happening."
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The total number of hate crimes victims in 2021 doubled compared to the prior year, climbing from 56 in 2020 to 112 in 2021, San Francisco police data show. The number of victims of anti-Black hate crimes rose 27%, from 6 in 2020 to 10 in 2021, while the number of victims of anti-Semitic attacks rose 60%, from 5 to 8, police found.
The department also found a 400% increase in hate crimes against "other races," and a 50% increase in anti-LGBTQ+ attacks.
