Asian elder scared of stepping outside after seeing his arrested attacker in the same spot days later
By Carl Samson
October 12, 2021
An elderly Asian American man is fearful of going out after seeing the person who viciously assaulted him in Los Angeles’ Koreatown just a few days later.
What happened: Samuel Kang, 70, was waiting for a bus at the corner of 5th Street and Western Avenue on Sept. 20 when he first came across Cartrell Smith, who, after walking by, allegedly turned around and hit Kang in the face.
- Kang has some difficulty speaking in English, but he remembers what Smith said during the attack. “Son of a b*tch, motherf**ker, go back to your country, go back to your country,” he recalled the suspect as saying, according to ABC7 News.
- Kang, who suffered bruises on his forehead, managed to flee from Smith and report the attack to an officer patrolling nearby. Shortly after, Smith was arrested for misdemeanor battery. He was released hours later on his own recognizance.
Suspect released: Just hours after his arrest, Smith was released on his own recognizance. Kang said he saw Smith again in the same spot on Sept. 26, which left him terrified.
- “I came out in the morning to go to the market, but when I saw the same Black man approaching me, I ran away desperate and helpless,” Kang told the Korea Times.
- The 70-year-old is not only scared. He is also frustrated with the justice system. “I was just distraught and flabbergasted. I want the justice system to do its work better than before and how I was treated,” he told ABC7 News.
Kang adds to the growing number of elderly victims of anti-Asian incidents in the U.S., a problem that has escalated with the onset of COVID-19. Another elderly victim Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, who was killed after being pushed in San Francisco in January, became a figure for the Stop Asian Hate movement.
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