The teen charged in the beating of a 71-year-old man didn’t take kindly to being video taped in court. Tyrone McAllister, 18, flipped the bird at a Fox 40 camera during his arraignment Friday.
He and a 16-year-old boy both face accusations of elder abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted robbery. Police in Manteca, California claim they’re the two individuals seen on surveillance footage during the beating of a 71-year-old man. The figure in a black sweatshirt can be seen repeatedly kicking and spitting on the victim.
The video alone caught a lot of attention, and some wondered if this was a hate crime. The 71-year-old man is a Sikh. But then cops found suspects, and one of them turned out to be McAllister, the son of Union City Police Chief Darryl McAllister.
“Words can barely describe how embarrassed, dejected, and hurt my wife, daughters, and I feel right now,” this father wrote in a statement. “Violence and hatred is not what we have taught our children; intolerance for others is not even in our vocabulary, let alone our values. Crime has never been an element of our household, our values, nor the character to which we hold ourselves.”
He described his son as estranged. Tyrone fell into a bad crowd when he was young, became alienated from his friends and family, and was implicated in several “theft-related” crimes, the elder McAllister wrote.
The young suspect won’t be identified by police because he is a juvenile.
The investigation is ongoing, say police. It is still being determined if this will be treated as a hate crime, though cops voiced skepticism at first. Court records obtained by Law&Crime don’t show an attorney in this matter. Another court date is set for next Friday.
[Screengrab via Fox 40]
