The daughter of “Grandpa Vicha” – the 84-year-old Thai immigrant whose killing shocked San Francisco – is launching a political profession after after her father’s attacker successfully walked free.
Monthanus Ratanapakdee, a victims’ rights advocate, introduced Wednesday she is going to run as an impartial for the District 2 supervisor seat within the June 2 election, vowing to convey “commonsense management” and safer streets to the crime-plagued metropolis.
Her marketing campaign facilities on what she described as “commonsense management” and a push for “safer communities” and “actual outcomes.”
“My father’s case is private to me. However this marketing campaign is about our metropolis,” Ratanapakdee wrote on X. “Safer streets. Accountability. Actual outcomes — individuals over politics.”
In a cellphone name with the Publish on Wednesday afternoon, Ratanapakdee mentioned she has grown uninterested in the established order on public security and seeing few take motion.
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She is hoping to shake up the dynamics of a race that can play out over two elections this 12 months after the incumbent, Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, was appointed in late 2024.
“I by no means really feel secure and I used to be annoyed concerning the felony justice system in San Francisco,” Ratanapakdee mentioned. “I need to convey frequent sense to our neighborhood.”
Ratanapakdee’s father, Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, died in 2021 after being violently shoved to the bottom in San Francisco’s Anza Vista neighborhood.
The assault by Antoine Watson, now 25, was captured on surveillance video and have become a flashpoint in nationwide conversations about anti-Asian violence and stronger protections for aged residents.
Final month, Choose Linda Colfax sentenced Watson to eight years, however suspended the rest of the time period. She mentioned additional incarceration would have a “poor impression” on Watson and credited him with 5 years already served in county jail.
Critics of the decide known as consideration to different instances by which she gave out lenient sentences.
A jury discovered Watson responsible of involuntary manslaughter and assault however acquitted him of homicide. Prosecutors argued Watson ought to have recognized that tackling an aged man at full pace was harmful, whereas protection attorneys described the assault as an impulsive act with out intent to kill.
Watson apologized in court docket, saying he thinks about his actions each day and desires he may undo them, in keeping with the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ratanapakdee has emerged as an advocate for victims’ rights and public security reforms whereas regularly criticizing metropolis management over crime, however her candidacy is a longshot.
Sherrill has locked up key endorsements to proceed representing District 2, which incorporates neighborhoods such because the Marina, Pacific Heights and Cow Hole — areas which have more and more develop into focal factors in San Francisco’s debate over crime, homelessness and housing.
Sherrill was appointed by former Mayor London Breed and is up for particular election in June, and the race additionally contains organizer Lori Brooke, who co-founded Neighborhoods United SF.
Metropolis Corridor insiders instructed The Publish that Sherrill’s appointment was a quid professional quo to assist Breed get a job with the Aspen Institute, a company linked to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has served as a mentor to Sherrill.
Breed and Sherrill each denied any wrongdoing.
Ratanapakdee slammed the native Democratic Celebration and instructed The Publish she intends to construct momentum off of her write-in marketing campaign forward of one other election for the D2 supervisor seat in November.
“You realize my dad died in our neighborhood, and I really feel unhealthy not with the ability to defend him,” Ratanapakdee mentioned. “I simply need to be a voice of change.”
