Man Who Killed 84-Year-Old for Looking At Him Escapes Murder Conviction

I wrote about this case years ago when it happened. A 19-year-old named Antoine Watson charged and tackled an 84-year-old man named Vicha Ratanapakdee who died of his injures two days later. The attack, which happened in January 2021, was caught on video but for years afterwards there was no explanation for why this had happened. For reasons that are unclear, It took five years to put Antoine Watson on trial. And sadly his trial just ended with an acquittal on the murder charge.

A jury acquitted a 24-year-old man of murder and elder abuse — and convicted him instead of involuntary manslaughter — in an attack on an 84-year-old Thai grandfather in San Francisco in 2021, a case that galvanized the Asian American community around crime and safety concerns.

The judge will now determine sentencing…

…the district attorney never filed hate crime charges against Watson. During the trial, no evidence was presented to show that the attack could have been racially motivated. Watson testified that he did not know the race of the victim or know that he was elderly before he tackled him, an assertion the prosecution contested, arguing that Watson was close enough to Ratanapakdee to see he was old.

So why did a 19-year-old kill a complete stranger who was taking his daily walk around the neighborhood? The defense explained that Watson was angry and having a bad day.

The night before the assault, Watson had been kicked out of his aunt’s house for arguing with his cousin. That fight ended with his cousin in tears and his aunt ordering him to leave, he said.

Annoyed, he drove eight blocks home, where he saw his dad, who started yelling at him, he testified…

He got into his car with his girlfriend, Maylasia Goo, and started driving. As he drove, he called his mom to tell her what happened and got more upset. He testified in court that he “probably” was speeding and running through stop signs.

Watson crashed into a parked car. Police who’d been following him yelled at him to get out. They pointed a gun at him and handcuffed him, he testified. Eventually, they let him go with a citation.

The whole story could have been different right there is police had arrested Watson instead of giving him a ticket. Watson and his girlfriend fell asleep in the car and when he woke up the next morning he saw Vicha Ratanapakdee looking at him in a way that made him angry.

“I thought he was judging me, too, like Maylasia was judging me,” he said. Neighbors who lived on the street testified they heard him shouting, “Why are you looking at me?” or “What the f—are you looking at?”…

Watson’s attorney asked why he shoved Ratanapakdee.

“I don’t know,” he said. “In that moment, I wasn’t thinking.

Antoine Watson hurt someone because he had made a mess of his own life to the point that his own family didn’t want him around. But somehow the jury decided that what Watson needed was another break, instead of a life sentence for murder.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Watson didn’t call 911 after the attack. He explained, “I think I was scared. I was scared the police would arrest me and confuse the situation and think I did something.” Well, the police did arrest him because he did do something. He murdered an old man for looking at him. But somehow that’s not a murder in San Francisco.

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