A California man took the stand this week and described the moments leading up to the 2021 killing of an 84-year-old man known to many as “Grandpa Vicha,” telling jurors he attacked the elderly victim because he felt he was being judged.
Antoine Watson, now 24, testified Tuesday about the fatal encounter that left Vicha Ratanapakdee dead in San Francisco’s Anza Vista neighborhood. Watson was 19 at the time of the attack.
“I thought he was judging me,” Watson told the court, according to local ABC affiliate KGO. He said the incident unfolded after his car broke down and he noticed the elderly man looking in his direction.
“I remember a person just staring at me and I remember just running at him and pushing him,” Watson testified.
Watson told jurors that his girlfriend was with him at the time and that he felt embarrassed by how he reacted to the car trouble. “I didn’t want to cry in front of her,” he said, adding that he believed both his girlfriend and the elderly man were judging him.
He told his public defender that he still doesn’t fully understand why he did what he allegedly did. “At that moment, I wasn’t thinking,” Watson said on the stand.
Prosecutors played surveillance video during the trial that shows Watson running toward Ratanapakdee and violently shoving him to the ground. The footage, which circulated widely at the time, sparked outrage and renewed calls to address anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to NBC Bay Area.
During cross-examination on Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Sean Connelly pressed Watson on the details of the attack.
“You agree that you killed Vicha Ratanapakdee?” Connelly asked.
“Yeah,” Watson replied.
“You agree that Vicha Ratanapakdee did nothing to deserve being attacked?”
“Yeah,” Watson answered.
Connelly continued asking whether Watson made eye contact with the elderly man, whether Ratanapakdee asked for help, or questioned why he was being attacked. Watson repeatedly responded that he did not know.
Ratanapakdee’s daughter, Monthanus Ratanapakdee, said listening to Watson describe her father’s death was deeply painful.
“When he saw my dad very hurting and bleeding all over his head, he did not call 911 or try to help him,” she told NBC Bay Area. “He walked back to the car.”
Speaking to KGO, she added, “I think this guy has no remorse. He intended to assault my father.”
Watson’s trial is scheduled to continue Thursday as jurors weigh the testimony and video evidence in a case that shocked San Francisco and drew national attention.
Well the results if lack of discipline and corrections
Antoine Watson, the black POS is to dumb to even realize that his explanation of why he did it is just ridiculous. I cant believe this idiot even took the stand. These people are animals that can’t control themselves and should not be allowed to live in a civilized society. This POS had the nerve to call this poor man all kinds of Asian slurs while he killed him. He needs a death penalty, but that shithole CA doesn’t have one.
His upbringing (being told that he shouldn’t let anybody “judge” him) led to this.