SAN FRANCISCO — A man convicted of assaulting an Oakland Chinatown community leader in 2021 has been charged in a violent attack July 21 on an 88-year-old Asian woman in San Francisco, according to authorities and court records.
James Lee Ramsey, 27, was arrested the day of the attack and has been charged with three felonies: elder abuse, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery causing serious bodily injury. He is also charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly attacking a witness to the woman’s assault who held Ramsey until police arrested him.
According to authorities the woman was assaulted about 11:16 a.m. July 21 on Ellis Street. Authorities said the woman was allegedly kicked to the ground in an unprovoked attack before the witness detained Ramsey.
The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. It was not known if she is still hospitalized.
“The crimes that Mr. Ramsey is accused of are horrific,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a news release. “I am grateful to the witness who was able to detain him until police arrived ensuring he did not flee. My office, on behalf of the victims, and every San Franciscan who is fed up with brazen violence like this, will stand for justice and seek to hold him accountable for his crimes.”
According to Alameda County court records and prior media accounts, Ramsey was arrested on April 29, 2021 for an unprovoked attack that day on Oakland Chinatown leader Carl Chan, whom he did not know. Chan was walking in the 400 block of Eighth Street near Broadway when Ramsey approached him from behind, yelled a profanity and punched him in the back of the head, causing Chan to temporarily lose consciousness. But he was able to take a picture of Ramsey with his cell phone, which led to his arrest later that day.
Ramsey, who was on parole at the time, was charged with felony assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and several enhancements including a hate crime and crime against the elderly, according to Alameda County court records.
In a plea bargain in September 2021, he pleaded no contest to the assault charge and in exchange prosecutors dropped all the enhancements. In February 2022, after a 90-day stay at a state Department of Corrections treatment and diagnostic facility, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail and given credit for 305 days already served in custody, records show.
It was not clear when he was released from custody and placed on probation. But in March of this year he was arrested for violating probation and given a 24-day jail sentence, the records say.
Ramsey is being held without bail at the San Francisco County Jail. He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon and prosecutors planned to make sure he stays in custody. If convicted of all charges, he faces more than 10 years in prison, authorities said.
The investigation is active and anyone with information is asked to call the San Francisco police tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with “SFPD”. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
