Woman charged with ‘anti-Asian hate crime’ for spitting on man in California

A 39-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of committing an “anti-Asian hate crime” after she allegedly spat on a man and used an ethnic slur, according to officials in northern California.

Karen Inman was arrested on March 5 during an attempted theft of candy from a Smart & Final grocery store, police said in Mountain View, a bay area town about 15 miles west of San. Jose. Inman was charged with petty theft, robbery and two counts of violating civil rights by force or threat due to two alleged incidents on February 13.

On that date, Inman allegedly stole items from a store and told company staff that she did not need to pay for them due to the staff’s Asian ethnicity, according to a police department statement. from Mountain View.

Police said they received another report the same day that a woman matching Inman’s description threw racist language and spat at lunching customers, one of them of Asian origin.

Police questioned Inman, who is transient, on February 13, but released her because the officers had not witnessed any alleged crimes and because the two victims “did not want prosecution.”

“However, it is the policy of the MVPD to proactively investigate any hate crimes, so the officers continued the investigation and we took the matter to the district attorney’s office for review,” the report said. communicated.

“Officials from the District Attorney’s Office reviewed our case and determined that hate crime charges could be laid against Inman.”

In a press release announcing the charges, the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office said Inman allegedly told the man she spat on to go back “where you came from” and used a racial slur.

“She was finally arrested on Friday because of the candy theft,” Deputy District Attorney Sheryl Leung told NBC News on Monday. “But what we accused was of spitting in the middle of a pandemic targeting someone who had just enjoyed their lunch.”

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in the press release that an increase in attacks on the Asian-American Pacific Island community was “in part driven by false political rhetoric blaming Native Americans Asian “from the coronavirus pandemic.