Caught on camera: San Jose business owners attacked

The women who have been running a San Jose market for more than a decade are shaken up after disturbing surveillance video shows two suspects punching and pushing them.

The owner said it happened Wednesday as the suspects were trying to steal a beer.

Phuong Ton has owned Smile Market on North 4th Street in San Jose for 16 years, but she said she’s never experienced anything like this. 

She said her sister was working at the register when a man and woman tried to pay for a beer.

But her sister noticed the man was hiding a second beer. 

“We have a camera right here, we can see that he put it in his pants,” Ton said.

Her sister confronted them and that’s when things turned violent.

Video shows a beer can tucked away in the man’s pants, and Ton’s sister pulling on his shirt. 

He pushes her to the ground and before she gets back up, the woman throws a punch and pulls her hair.

At the same time, Ton was outside just getting to the market. 

“My sister went out and said ‘they punched me, they punched me!’ And I stopped them. That’s why you see I hold the stroller, I wanted to talk, ‘why did you punch my sister?’” Ton said.

Video then shows both sisters outside and Ton’s hair getting pulled as she’s pushed to the ground. 

“That never happened in my life, the first time in my life,” Ton said.

San Jose police say the suspects took off before officers arrived. 

Meanwhile Ton was back to work on Monday. 

“The customer ask me, ‘are you okay?’,” she said. “Yeah, I love my customers.”

Many of them have seen the video. Ton’s daughter-in-law Kathleen posted it on social media and so far, it’s gotten tens of thousands of views. 

“It’s really hard to see your in-laws get hurt, it could be anyone, your loved ones and your friends, it could’ve been worse, thankfully it wasn’t,” Kathleen said.

The owner said both she and her sister went to the hospital and they’re doing better now but are of course still shaken up. 

Police are investigating.