A Filipina Chinese senior citizen was attacked in her own home in the Oceanview neighborhood of San Francisco during an attempted robbery earlier in July.
In an exclusive interview with ABC7 News’ Dion Lim, 71-year-old Remia Reyes said she is considering moving out of the city after being placed in a chokehold and carried by the neck during the incident.
She told the news station that she was in her garage as she was unloading groceries from her SUV on Wednesday afternoon, July 14, when she suddenly felt an arm around her neck. Reyes initially thought it was a relative giving her a playful hug but soon realized something was wrong when the grip got tighter.
“I said, God, if this is my call, I accept it. I will accept. If I have done something wrong in my life, forgive me. I’m willing to accept it, Lord. That’s what I was thinking,” said Reyes.
One of two suspects reportedly lifted Reyes off the ground and carried her in a headlock through the garage, according to the report.
“I said please don’t hurt me. I have some money. Not much but I just want to share with you my money,” she recounted.
Her attackers only left after she told them her brother had a gun, and she then called out for her domestic partner, Solita Magsalin, who was upstairs.
“I said ‘Dai! Dai!’ He thought I was telling Dan or Dad,” she told ABC7.
Reyes, who is half Chinese and half Filipino, explained that “dai” is a term of endearment for someone in the Philippines.
ABC7 reported that no possessions other than garage door openers were taken.
After the incident, Reyes said she started carrying around a black rubber mallet for protection.
“Whoever did this to me, please don’t anymore. My God!” she said, addressing her perpetrators.
A GoFundMe page (https://gofund.me/82f1af1b) was launched by Reyes to help pay for a replacement garage door that can’t be opened with the stolen openers. As of this writing, the page has raised over $1,400 of its $2,000 goal.
“I’m trying to raise money to change our garage door because everytime I see it I’m having [an] anxiety attack due to the attack [what happened] to me inside my garage. Also our garage door control was taken and I’m afraid that one of [these] days it will just open up using the missing garage door control,” she wrote.
“Please help me raise enough money to replace my garage door,” she added.
The San Francisco Police Department’s investigation on the attempted robbery is still ongoing. n
