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Who is Steven Jenkins? Man who punched 2 elderly Asians, 83 and 75, in the face on San Francisco street nabbed

One of the victims, 75-year-old Xiao Zhen Xie, fought back by beating him up with a wooden board

A man was arrested for unprovoked attacks on two elderly Asian victims near Market Street in San Francisco Wednesday, March 17, police said. The attack happened a day after Robert Aaron Long killed eight people, including six Asians, in three different massage parlors.

Police identified the suspect as 39-year-old Steven Jenkins. Witnesses told the investigating officers that Jenkins was involved in a physical altercation in UN Plaza about 30 minutes prior to the assaults. Following the altercation, Jenkins approached the 83-year-old male victim and assaulted him, police said. A security guard who was present at the scene pursued Jenkins, and as he was fleeing, he assaulted a 75-year-old female victim. The guard was able to detain Jenkins until officers arrived on the scene. Both the victims were taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

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Journalist Dion Lim tweeted the picture of the first victim and wrote: "This is 83-year old Ngoc. He was 1 of 2 Asian seniors attacked along Market & 7th yesterday Parts of his neck broken & he has other serious injuries. A @gofundme is being made. If this image isn’t enough for there to be change in this city I don’t know what is #StopAsianHate." A GoFundMe fundraiser was also created for Ngoc saying: "Ngoc was one of two elderly Asians attacked by the same perpetrator at the same location. As a result of the attack, Ngoc sustained injuries with cuts and bruises on his head from the fall. Ngoc's nose was also fractured and doctors are also ordering an MRI scan for fractures in his neck bones. It has yet to be determined how serious Ngoc's neck injuries are as doctor's are still  evaluating them. Ngoc is still in the hospital and is in good spirits. Ngoc has always had a positive outlook on life as a result of him surviving 17 years in a Vietnamese concentration camp." The fundraiser has raised $93,934 of the $25,000 goal.

The other victim, Xiao Zhen Xie was leaning against a utility pole waiting for the traffic light to change when she said she was suddenly attacked. She told CBS station KPIX-TV she didn’t know the man and that he punched her seemingly out of nowhere. She said there was no provocation. But Xie fought back. With her adult daughter serving as a translator, Xie told the TV station that she picked up a stick and hit the man with it. Witnesses told KPIX-TV Xie was “pummeling” the Jenkins after he had hit her. Based on a video from the scene, Xie had picked up what look to be either a wooden board or paddle.

Jenkins was then taken to a hospital after the police arrived at the scene due to an “unrelated, prior medical condition,” the San Francisco Police Department said. He was released from the hospital a few hours later and booked into the San Francisco County Jail. A picture of him surfaced online where he can be seen showing his middle finger while lying down on a stretcher.

According to the Inmate records, Jenkins was formally booked into custody at 4.31 pm on March 17, 2021. Bond was set at $50,000. The police department did not make Jenkins’ mugshot available to the public. Jenkins is facing four charges, according to the San Francisco PD and inmate information listed on the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department website. According to the California legal code, a conviction for elder abuse carries a punishment of up to four years in state prison or a fine of up to $6,000.

The charge is described in the California legislature: "A person who knows or reasonably should know that a person is an elder or dependent adult and who, under circumstances or conditions likely to produce great bodily harm or death, willfully causes or permits any elder or dependent adult to suffer, or inflicts thereon unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering, or having the care or custody of any elder or dependent adult, willfully causes or permits the person or health of the elder or dependent adult to be injured, or willfully causes or permits the elder or dependent adult to be placed in a situation in which his or her person or health is endangered, is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not to exceed six thousand dollars ($6,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years."

The other two counts Jenkins faces include “assault likely to produce great bodily injury,” which also carries potential prison time if convicted: "Any person who commits an assault upon the person of another by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment."

Anyone with more information about either assault is asked to call the SFPD Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.