Man charged after brutal assaults of 2 women in their 70s in SF's Tenderloin, officials say
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An arrest has been made in the brutal assault of two women in their seventies in San Francisco's Tenderloin.
After one victim's son's search for answers went unanswered, Supervisor Matt Haney is vowing for more communication between police and victims.
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Each incident happened within a week of each other, one on Sept. 15, the other on the 22, and just blocks from the Tenderloin police station.
"For something like this to happen really shocked me and I'm still kind of in denial," Says Thanh, son of the second victim, who is choosing to use only his first name.
San Francisco police arrested 34-year-old Michael Turner and charged him on suspicion of aggravated assault and elder abuse in the first incident, which involved a 78-year-old woman who was walking along Turk Street at around 7:30 in the morning.
Turner was still in custody on Oct. 5 when he was charged for the Sept. 22 incident, involving Thanh's 71-year old mom. Turner was charged with battery, a probation violation and elder abuse.
According to police, Turner has a criminal court Stay Away Order for the area of Market and Jones for a prior weapons offense.
Thanh says he became frustrated after repeated calls to police asking for an update on the investigation and hoping to learn more about the suspect did not yield any response or answers.
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ABC7 News informed District 6 Supervisor Haney of the incident and showed him the graphic images of what happened to Thanh's mother.
"When something like this happens, they should get immediate support from the police and they should get immediate response and support from the DA and I don't think it happened in this case," said Haney after meeting with Thanh near where the incidents
happened.
Haney says he's now making a push for law enforcement to have better communication with victims of crimes like this. He condemned the violence and said he'd see to it the suspect remains in custody.
Thanh says he wants two things: for his mother, who gave up her life in Vietnam to give him and his brother a life in America, to heal. He asks Asian Americans to keep speaking out.
