SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A good Samaritan stopped an attack on a man in San Francisco’s Chinatown and detained the suspect until law enforcement arrived, according to multiple reports.
Darren Mark Stallcup told KNTV that he rushed out of his apartment after heard people screaming in fear on Wednesday.
Stallcup said he then spotted a suspect beating up a “very old man” in the middle of the street, while others were watching.
Stallcup said the attacker fled as people tried to help the victim, but later returned and ran at him in a full sprint.
Luckily, Stallcup told KPIX that he was able to bear-hug the suspect and hold onto him until the authorities got there and arrested him.
Police have identified the suspect as 44-year-old Yuefeng Li. He’s being charged with assault likely to result in great bodily injury, threats, and brandishing a deadly weapon.
Sporting a cowboy hat, Stallcup refers to himself as a “cowboy living in Chinatown.” He’s the founder of a local group called the World Peace Movement, KNTV reports. He says “hate is a virus and love is the answer.”
Stallcup told the victim’s family that he’s willing to continue helping them.
“I was able to speak with the daughters and the granddaughters of the elderly Asian man and they were very thankful for me. I gave them my number and I told them they can call me anytime,” said Stallcup. “I’ll walk with him anywhere, you know what I’m saying? I want to get involved in my community and make San Francisco a better place, you know? These are crazy times to be alive and I want to be a part of the solution, not the problem.”
Though it appears both the victim and suspect in this incident were Asian, it comes amid a rise in attacks on people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. A recent report showed more than 9,000 of these types of anti-Asian incidents were reported between March 2020 and this past June.