SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Police Department arrested a suspect in connection to an aggravated assault that transpired on September 8. According to the SFPD, at approximately 11:22 p.m., an aggravated assault transpired on First and Howard Streets in the Southern District. The victim, Christopher Matthews was reportedly waiting on the street corner for the rideshare service, Lyft, when a vehicle pulled up next to him.
Matthews approached the vehicle, under the impression that it belonged to rideshare company. The suspect in the car exited and punched the victim, who fell to the ground and suffered life threatening injures. The suspect returned to the vehicle, which was described as a white four door sedan with silver rims and a black roof – and fled the scene.
Surveillance photos of the suspect vehicle, surveillance footage capturing the incident, and a forensic sketch of the suspect were released to the public. Authorities were able to identify the suspect ton October 16 as Jiacheng Fang, 25, of San Jose, CA. Fang was taken into custody without incident. He was arrested on felony charges of assault with force likely causing great bodily injury and battery causing serious bodily injury.
A GoFundMe page was set up to raise funds to support Christopher and his family. As of Wednesday, October 3, the page has raised $61,292 of the $40,000 goal.
“Chris was assaulted in a terrible random act of violence in San Francisco, leading to significant head trauma, hemorrhaging, and multiple skull fractures. He was transferred to Zuckerberg SF General where he was treated for his injuries and was released for rehab on 9/12/18. Despite the severity of his injuries, Chris has shown good motor skills recovery. However, his memory continues to be a work in progress where some days are better than others. Chris has a long road to recovery, but we want Chris, Rebecca, and their 2 children to know that they have our support!
I’ve put together this GoFundMe for the many expenses (medical, child care, meal services, time off work, babysitting, etc.) that will come with the long journey ahead. It’s hard for any of us to know what the family is going through, but we can all imagine the emotional, physical, and financial burden this incident will impact on the Mathews family and this is an easy way that we can help,” states a message posted on the GoFundMe page.
The SFPD is still investigating the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the 24-hour San Francisco Police Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or text-a-tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the start of the message.
