California police chief’s son charged with beating of Sikh man

NEW YORK: The estranged son of a northern California city police chief was formally charged late on Friday with attempted robbery and abuse of a 71-year-old Sikh man who was beaten and spat upon in an unprovoked attack caught on video, prosecutors said.

Tyrone McAllister, 18, whose parents assisted police in tracking him down following Monday´s attack in the town of Manteca, about 75 miles east of San Francisco, was arraigned in San Joaquin County Superior Court and ordered held on $300,000 bond. Court records show a public defender was appointed to represent McAllister, and he was scheduled to return to court on Aug 17. No plea was entered.

A second suspect, identified by authorities only as a 16-year-old boy, was also arrested and charged as a juvenile, but the status of his case was not immediately known.

A video of the attack, which occurred in a park and was recorded by a security camera on a nearby house, was posted online by municipal authorities.

It showed the two assailants confronting the victim, who was wearing a turban and walking alone on a sidewalk.

The pair are seeking kicking the man and knocking him to the ground, before robbing him and spitting on him.

Following McAllister´s arrest on Wednesday, the police department of Union City, just outside San Francisco, posted a an open letter on its Facebook page from its chief, Darryl McAllister, acknowledging that his son had been arrested in the attack.