MANTECA, Calif. — The son of a San Francisco Bay Area police chief was arrested Wednesday following an attack on a 71-year-old Sikh man at a park in Central California. Tyrone McAllister, 18, and a 16-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon following Monday morning’s attack in Manteca, authorities said.
McAllister is the son of Union City Police Chief Darryl McAllister, who said his family “is shaken to the core.” Manteca police said Sahib Singh, who doesn’t speak English, was attacked while walking on a sidewalk next to the park.
McAllister said he and his wife worked with Manteca police to help track down his son, who could face felony charges and prison time. Union City Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci told CBS station KPIX-TV that she supports the chief, describing him as “an effective law enforcement leader in our community.”
Surveillance video shows Singh being approached by two people in hoodies. Singh appears to try to walk away but they confront him and he puts his hands up.
Tyrone McAllister, 18, is seen in a booking photo released by the Manteca Police Department in California on Aug. 8, 2018.
Manteca Police Department via AP
The two appear to talk to him briefly before one kicks him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. His turban falls off.
He gets up and appears to be trying to defend himself when one of the attackers kicks him again, knocking him down. Singh is kicked several more times and an attacker spits on him before leaving.
Singh suffered minor injuries, police said. The motive for the attack appeared to be robbery.
In a statement Wednesday, Darryl McAllister said that his son had been estranged from the family for several months and had not been home. “Words can barely describe how embarrassed, dejected, and hurt my wife, daughters, and I feel right now,” he wrote.
“Violence and hatred is not what we have taught our children; intolerance for others is not even in our vocabulary, let alone our values,” the chief wrote. “Crime has never been an element of our household, our values, nor the character to which we hold ourselves.”
McAllister said his son began running away and getting into trouble about two years ago. He committed several theft-related crimes and spent several months in juvenile hall and later, as an adult, another three months in jail.
The attack was the second on a Sikh man in a week in Central California. Last week, two men beat a man in Keyes and spray-painted a neo-Nazi symbol on his truck in what police are treating as a hate crime.
Surjit Malhi said he was putting up campaign signs for local Republicans when two men ambushed him.
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