Police chief's son arrested in attack of Sikh senior citizen

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Union City Police Chief Darryl McAllister penned an apology.

UPDATED, May 9 to include arrest of second suspect.

ONE OF TWO assailants who beat a Sikh man in Manteca, Calif. is the son of a police chief.

Manteca police arrested Tyrone Keith McAllister as a suspect in the attack Wednesday. He is the son of Union City Police Chief Darryl McAllister. Manteca is about an hour's drive east of Union City. Also arrested is a 16-year old boy whose identity was not revealed because he is a minor.

TYRONE McALLISTER

Before the family connection to the crime became widely reported, Chief McAllister wrote a heartbreaking public letter apologizing for his son's behavior.

The police chief posted a public apology on his Facebook page. “Words can barely describe how embarrassed, dejected, and hurt my wife, daughters, and I feel right now,” he wrote about his son, who has been estranged from the family and had been living on his own.

“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,” continued the post.

The younger McAllister is the youngest of three children and the only son of Chief McAllister and his wife.

Sahbit Singh Natt, left, describes the attack to a relative.

The video footage of the attack on 71-year old Sahbit Singh Natt came went viral. It showed two men approach the senior citizen and then kicking him, knocking him to the ground. One of the men later returned and kicked Natt some more as he lay on the street.

"It's difficult for us to comprehend how one of three kids who grew up with the same parents, under the same roof, with the same rules and same values and character could wander so far astray," continued Chief McAllister's letter. "We simply don't know why, or how we got here. In the eyes of the public, no matter the irrelevance to the incident, the fact remains that the father of the perpetrator of this despicable crime is a police chief, period. One cannot expect the general public (our Sikh community in particular) to factor in any sentiment that would distinguish this from the integrity of my family name. I pray that we, as a community, in conjunction with my family, can get through this and be even stronger as a result."

Both suspects face charges of attempted robbery, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. McAllister will be booked into the San Joaquin County Jail and the minor into the county Juvenile Detention Center.

READ Chief McAllister's complete letter.

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