Man arrested in connection with assault on former San Francisco commissioner - San Francisco Chronicle

A 34-year-old man was arrested Sunday in connection with a brutal attack on a veteran San Francisco commissioner, police said.

Gregory Chew, a former member of the city’s arts, film and immigrants rights commissions, said he was walking down Third Street on Tuesday night when he was suddenly punched and knocked to the ground by a man who approached on a bicycle.

On Sunday morning, police said they arrested Derrick Yearby in connection with the 7:30 p.m. attack in the South of Market neighborhood. Yearby has been booked on suspicion of several charges, including aggravated battery and elder abuse.

The attack on Chew, 70, was the latest in a string of violent attacks against Asian Americans that ramped up during the pandemic.

The man who attacked Chew did not say anything during the encounter, and his motivations were not clear. But Chew said it was no robbery. He felt his pockets minutes after the assailant left, and realized his wallet and cell phone were still there.

“I didn’t even know what happened,” Chew told The Chronicle in an interview Saturday.

He remembered blacking out on the sidewalk as the attacker took off. When he regained consciousness, he recalled seeing two women emerge from a pingpong club, trying to help. A bystander evidently called police, and within minutes, he said, an ambulance arrived to take him to California Pacific Medical Center on Van Ness Avenue.

Chew said he is suffering from a badly swollen eye and broken left shoulder.

“It’s a surreal experience,” he said, adding that he’s felt afraid to go out, an unfamiliar and deeply unsettling emotion for a person accustomed to walking everywhere.

On Sunday, Asian American community leaders and their allies held a rally in Washington Square Park to demand more action from the city on the seemingly targeted attacks.

According to data collected by the organization Stop AAPI Hate, there were 11,467 reported cases of aggression and hate toward Asian Americans in the United States — one-sixth of which involved physical violence.

Police said they are still investigating the incident, and anyone with information is asked to call the San Francisco Police Department’s Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411.

Trisha Thadani (she/her) and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writesr. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani @rachelswan

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