An Asian woman was assaulted (in broad daylight) this past Friday by a man near the new location of The Stinking Rose on Columbus Avenue. The suspect of the assault was found a block from where the attack happened — and was taken away on a stretcher.

Since 2020, the number of reported violent crimes conducted against AAPI community members has increased by over 339%. In San Francisco, the figure is even more unsettling; SF police reported that the recorded attacks on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders went from nine instances in 2020 to sixty in 2021 — a 567% increase. This past Friday in North Beach, a woman became another figure in that statistic after being assaulted by a man in a busy section of the bustling SF neighborhood.

According to NBC Bay Area, SFPD responded to a call about a woman being assaulted on Columbus Street around 1:30 p.m. Friday. Information on the female victim, including her condition, still remains unclear. However, the male suspect — people who saw the assault happen claimed it was him responsible for it —  was apprehended by on-site police just a block away from the scene, wielding a knife. An NBC Bay Area reporter was apparently there, as well, with their smartphone and noted that the male suspect was taken away on a stretcher for reasons unclear.

Libby Staub, who was an eyewitness to the crime, said that she had seen videos of the attacks in the past, though this was her first time seeing one play out in front of her. Staub added to the news outlet that she wondered if the woman was targeted because she’s Asian American based on the words the man spoke to her after the attack: "She fell down, and he said something like ‘see, how you like it?’”

San Francisco police have yet to release either the motives behind the crime or the male suspect's identity; police attempted to locate the female victim upon arrival, but couldn’t locate her after the suspect was detained.

In December of last year, six Bay Area men were arrested in relation to a string of over 70 attacks involving specifically targeting Asian women.

Related: Six Bay Area Men Arrested For a Staggering 70 Attacks on Asian Women

Photo: Courtesy of Google Maps