Arrest made in video assault of elderly San Francisco man

SAN FRANCISCO - Police Thursday arrested a man in the taunting and robbery of an elderly Asian man who was collecting recyclables near a Bayview area housing project, an attack that was caught on video and posted to social media.

Dwayne Grayson, 20, was arrested in front of his Bayview home on suspicion of robbery, elder abuse, committing a hate crime and probation violation for an earlier robbery, Police Chief Bill Scott said during a gathering held to condemn the attack.

It wasn't immediately known whether Grayson had an attorney who could speak for him.

The video, posted Sunday, showed a black man threatening and swinging what appeared to be a metal pole at an Asian man who was trying to get back a shopping cart presumably loaded with aluminum cans he had collected. Later, the man was shown weeping. Several people were standing around. But none of them interfered, and some jeered and mocked him.

A person recording the incident told him to “go get your cans” and someone said: Ï hate Asians."

“What we saw on that video was horrific. Make no mistake about it,” Scott said. “We heard from people all over the country.”

Police said they believe Grayson was the person who recorded the attack and they are seeking a second man in connection with the assault.

A second video showed two private security guards who patrol public housing in the area apparently ordering the victim to leave after he was robbed. Both were placed on administrative leave while their company, Critical Intervention Patrol, investigates the incident, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The victim is a Chinese immigrant in his 70s, Tommy Wong of the Community Youth Center of San Francisco told KPIX-TV.

The victim was “an elderly man doing what he can to support his family, being bullied and hurt in his own neighborhood,” Joyce Lam of the Chinese Progressive Association said at Thursday's gathering, which also was attended by Mayor London Breed, state Sen. Scott Wiener, state Assemblyman David Chiu and members of the Asian and black communities.