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UNION CITY — Police Chief Darryl McAllister lists these among his values in a statement to the citizens he’s charged with protecting: empathy and compassion, honor and integrity.
The latter two played out painfully close to home for him Wednesday, when McAllister acknowledged that his son was one of two people arrested in the videotaped beating of a 71-year-old Sikh man in Manteca on Monday.
“Words can barely describe how embarrassed, dejected, and hurt my wife and daughters and I feel right now,” he wrote in a statement posted on the Union City Police Department’s Facebook page. “Violence and hatred is not what we have taught our children; intolerance for others is not even in our vocabulary, let alone our values. Crimes have never been an element of our household, our values, nor the character to which we hold ourselves.”
Tyrone McAllister, 18, is suspected of attacking the man just after 6 a.m. Monday. He was in custody at the San Joaquin County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $200,000 bail, and police are asking for charges of attempted robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse.
Police also arrested a 16-year-old who is not being identified.
The case came together after Manteca police received “numerous tips” that helped police identify the two suspects, according to that agency. Police called that information “instrumental” in making the arrest quickly.
“I am completely disgusted in sharing with you that … I received a call from Manteca PD that the suspect in this horrific crime turns out to be my 18-year-old son,” McAllister wrote in the statement, which was issued Wednesday afternoon.
“Despite having the desire any parent would have in wanting to protect their child, my oath is (and always will be) to the law and my vow of integrity guides me through this horrendous difficulty,” he wrote. “My stomach has been churning from the moment I learned this news. Even though my status as a law enforcement leader has no bearing or relation to the case whatsoever, I am nonetheless devastated by how much the nature of my son’s actions are such a departure from everything I have stood for in my personal life, and in my 37-year policing career.”
The elder McAllister said his son “began to lose his way a couple of years ago” and had separated himself from the family. He wrote that Tyrone McAllister had been arrested previously for a theft-related incident, and that he’d spent three months in jail.
The family remains estranged, the chief said. Manteca police worked with the McAllister family to find Tyrone McAllister.
McAllister’s statement gained national traction, with the story receiving play on many major national media outlets, and his words were shared by 1,900 Facebook users.
“On behalf of the Sikh community of the Bay Area and Union City, I would like to extend my prayers and support to Chief McAllister on the difficult moment he is undergoing on the dastardly actions of his Son [sic],” Jaswinder Singh Jandi wrote in the comments section, which contained 1,187 responses at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, 20 hours after the post.
Jandi is an elected leader at the Gurdwara Sahib of Fremont. “Chief has been very supportive of the Sikh community, especially in matters of hate crime and discrimination. I do not believe his son represents the values of Chief McAllister. I would also appeal to the community not to judge the Chief on his son’s behavior,” he added.
Wrote Sheryl Arroyo-Glausch in the same section: “As a citizen of Union City, I stand firm besides you.”
Some commenters suggested McAllister was downplaying the inherent violence of the crime in his post, by saying the victim, Sahib Singh Natt, “suffered only minor physical injuries” in the attack.
The department later shared the post on its Twitter page.
In declining an interview with this news organization, McAllister said Thursday in an email he is “so appreciative (and frankly, overwhelmed) by the sheer volume of support pouring in from all over,” in reaction to his post on Facebook. He also expressed sympathy for the victim.
“Without a doubt, is an unimaginable horror for Mr. Sahib Singh Natt. My heart, and the hearts of my wife and daughters hurt for him and his family as much as our hearts cry for the loss of a son we no longer seem to know,” he said.
He said his “status as a police chief has no involvement, no sway, no influence, and no role in the case,” and that his son will be held accountable “with what will likely be a long prison sentence.”
“Our empathy is with the Sikh community in Manteca and in Union City and all over, because this was a terrible crime that was perpetrated on this gentleman,” Union City Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci said Thursday by phone .
She added that McAllister is “an exemplary chief,” who has maintained his professionalism through this “unfortunate ordeal.”
Surveillance videotape caught the attack and appears to show Tyrone McAllister and the other male confronting the man in the 800 block of Agate Avenue, near Graystone Park. The man had been out for a walk, Manteca police said.
The video showed that after an exchange of words, the two suspects kicked the man, knocking him to the ground. It also shows somebody spitting on the man, Manteca police said. Before both walked away, one of them also appeared to wave a gun, police said.
Chief McAllister said he first heard of the incident while out mingling with residents during National Night Out. Several members of the city’s Sikh community asked him if he’d heard of the crime and to weigh in on to prevent it from happening in their city.
Later that night, the bad news came.
“My family,” he wrote, “is shaken to the core.”
