A man believed to be the attacker of the former city film, arts, and immigrant rights commissioner Gregory Chew has been arrested. The assault happened on the evening of August 3 near 3rd and Folsom streets.
Office of supervisor Matt Dorsey said that the police arrested 34-year-old Derrick Yearby of San Francisco on Sunday morning.
Chew, 70, is the city’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community leader. He struck and knocked to the ground. He was treated at a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
“There should be no place in San Francisco for this kind of violence, which in the last couple of years is disproportionately targeting seniors in our AAPI communities,” Dorsey said, in a statement. “San Francisco police reported a 567 percent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in 2021. We must all do more to stop these attacks and one way to deter violence like this is to send a strong message to would-be attackers that they’ll be brought to justice in San Francisco.”
Yearby was taken to San Francisco County Jail and booked on suspicion of aggravated battery causing serious bodily injury, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, elder abuse, and great bodily injury enhancement.
Anyone with information about the case can call the SFPD Tip Line at (415) 575-4445.
