SF DA, public defender contradicts claims made by victim of Chinatown attack

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A man accused of attacking and threatening to kill an Asian elderly person in San Francisco’s Chinatown on November 2, 2019, is “severely disabled” and was using a wheelchair to get around at the time of their encounter, his attorney has said. .

The incident, which allegedly happened outside a Chinese grocery store on Stockton St. — and was witnessed by a crowd — was cited in a federal lawsuit filed against the district attorney’s office this week.

The alleged attack

Anh Lê, 69, had been out for a walk when Jimmy Tanner Sr. and his teenage son allegedly threatened to kill him with a glass bottle and a baseball bat. Lê said it all started after he politely asked the boy, who was riding a bicycle, to be careful as the sidewalk was crowded and he nearly collided with him.

Moments later, according to Lê’s team, the boy pulled a baseball bat from his mother’s bag and used it to beat Lê multiple times. His father, meanwhile, allegedly lifted a glass bottle and threatened to kill Lê.

“I begged the Tanners to stop, but they relished their ability to inflict pain and fear on a helpless elderly person,” Lê said in a victim impact statement seen by NextShark. “The attack was the most brutal, terrifying and humiliating experience of my life, and it has stayed with me ever since.”

Lê said he also learned that the Tanners had targeted other Asian Americans around Chinatown on the same day. These incidents allegedly occurred before and after their meeting.

The alleged failures of the DA

The Tanners were arrested later the same day, but only Tanner Sr. was charged with assault, elder abuse and threatening terrorism. The district attorney’s office reportedly accepted a plea deal later, which Lê’s team said saw Tanner pleading guilty to the battery charge with no jail time and only one year of probation.

Police did not arrest Tanner on any hate crime charges, according to the district attorney’s office.

Acting District Attorney Suzy Loftus filed charges against Tanner on November 6, 2019, but she did not file a hate crime complaint.

In his lawsuit filed Tuesday, Lê claimed that the office did not inform him of those plea discussions, or give him the opportunity to submit and read a victim impact statement in court. Additionally, the bureau allegedly refused to correct a criminal protection order (CPO) that omitted his last name – identifying him only as “Anh L” – and misrepresented his age.

Lê’s legal team at King & Spalding LLP, a member of the Alliance for Asian American Justice, said the district attorney’s office violated California’s Marsy Law, which preserves and protects victims’ rights to due process. At some point, the office also allegedly told Lê that he had no right to be at the hearings.

“It is regrettable that Mr. Le is again a victim and that his injuries and trauma are minimized. The systemic unfair treatment and disregard of Asian American victims by the prosecutor’s offices, and the clear violations of Marsy’s law here (as confirmed on the record by the San Francisco Superior Court judges), are precisely why we brought this case,” Quyen Ta, a member of Lê’s team at King & Spalding, told NextShark.

Lê believes the attack on him was a hate crime, but the district attorney’s office reportedly refused to raise Tanner’s charges. No one in the Tanner family has been charged with a hate crime.

“Victims of anti-Asian American hate crimes need to have faith in the criminal justice system,” Ta said. “This is especially true for older people and those in immigrant communities who lack faith in the system that has historically reduced their voice.”

Lê, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is not seeking to relaunch the attack but to hold the district attorney’s office accountable for its failures. His lawsuit also cites similar instances in which the bureau allegedly failed to treat Asian American victims fairly.

An attorney with the Victim Services Division of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, however, had made multiple attempts between November 2020 and March 2021 to reach Lê through emails, phone calls and mail regarding a proposed resolution of the case. ‘case. But Lê would have picked up the phone and hung up.

The lawyer, who is also trained to work with abused elderly people, was able to get in touch with Lê ​​in March, around the time the case was set for a preliminary hearing.

The victims’ attorney and the district attorney also had Lê’s statements and position on how the case should have been handled, according to the Victims Services Division.

The case was resolved in court on April 12, 2021, for a plea deal for a battery charge, including probation and a stay order. Le was not present for that court date despite repeated contact, the district attorney’s office said.

The prosecutor told the court at the time of resolution of Le’s concerns and requests regarding the case. Le reportedly wanted Tanner to be sentenced to state prison and his child to be prosecuted.

Tanner denies the allegations

Following Lê’s federal prosecution, Sliman Nawabi, Tanner’s public defender, released a statement denying that his client had attacked Lê. Tanner, according to Nawabi, is “a severely disabled man with spinal cord injuries”.

Nawabi said Tanner was traveling in his wheelchair on the day of the alleged attack. He confirmed that his client was accompanied by his wife and young children.

“The kids were riding their bikes and Mr. Lê scolded them for being on the sidewalk,” Nawabi told NextShark. “Out of fear, Mr. Tanner’s 11-year-old son pulled out his plastic baseball bat and threw it at Mr. Lê, but it’s unclear if he made physical contact.”

Nawabi said the only interaction between Tanner and Lê was verbal and related to his client protecting his children. He also rejected Lê’s claim that Tanner used a glass bottle.

“Mr. Lê was never attacked by Mr. Tanner and no glass bottles were used as a weapon against Mr. Lê,” Nawabi said. “While this incident led to Mr. Tanner’s detention , his wife and their children, Mr. Lê refused to receive medical attention and suffered no visible injuries from the plastic baseball bat.”

Contrary to Lê’s assertion and the district attorney’s office, Nawabi asserts that Tanner did not plead any charges, “because there was no evidence” to support the allegations. He added that all charges against his client had been dropped “in the interest of justice”.

“Based on the facts of this case, the filing of a complaint by Mr. Lê and his supporters to obtain a punishment for Mr. Tanner – when the law, evidence and justice do not confirm that a crime has been committed – is quite frankly difficult to understand. It is clear that there were blatant misrepresentations of the facts by Mr. Lê in the press and in the trial,” Nawabi said.

NextShark contacted the San Francisco Police Department to request comment and an incident report on the alleged attack.

Featured image via Alliance for Asian American Justice

The story continues

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