Update: GoFundMe For Asian Grandmother Who Beat Attacker in San Francisco Hits $1 Million
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The GoFundMe campaign for an elderly Asian San Francisco woman who fought back during an assault on Market Street last month has collected $1 million in donations.
UPDATE: Non-Profit To Manage $1M In Donations To Xiao Zhen Xie, SF Grandmother Who Fought Assailant
75-year-old San Francisco resident Xiao Zhen Xie garnered international attention after using a wooden board to fight off a man who assaulted her on Market Street on the morning of March 17th. Police said the same man -- later identified as 39-year-old Steven Jenkins -- had also attacked 83-year-old Ngoc Pham just before the attack on Xie. Jenkins was arrested at the scene.
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Video taken at the scene by KPIX 5 Sports Director Dennis O'Donnell that showed the aftermath of the attack went viral. To date, his original video post on Twitter has been viewed over 3.4 million times.
In the days following news of Xie's attack, an online fundraiser quickly generated more than $900,000 after an initial $50,000 goal was set to cover her medical expenses.
The campaign hit the $1 million mark on Monday, rising to $1,000,100 early Monday evening.
On March 23, less than a week after the remarkable outpouring of support raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Xie, her grandson John Chen told KPIX 5 the family would be donating all of the funds toward combating hate against Asian Americans.
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An online fundraiser for Pham has also generated over $280,000 after an initial goal of $25,000.
Police said officers took custody of Jenkins on March 17 after he was detained by a nearby security guard. Witnesses said Jenkins had also been involved in a physical altercation at nearby U.N. Plaza approximately 30 minutes prior to the two assaults.
Police said Jenkins assaulted Pham as he walked away from the nearby farmer's market and a security guard chased him on foot. As Jenkins fled the area he assaulted Xie and she retaliated, police said. The security guard was then able to detain Jenkins until officers arrived.
Following the two attacks, police clarified that Jenkins was taken to a local hospital for an unrelated, prior medical condition. He was later booked at San Francisco County Jail on two charges of assault likely to produce great bodily injury and two charges of elder abuse.
