FULLERTON, Calif. – A man from Southern California was accused of stone pelting an Asian woman and her 6-year-old son while they were driving down the street last month, authorities said Monday.
It comes from the fact that violence against Asian Americans has increased across the country over the past year, including several high profile attacks in California.
Roger Janke, 28, of Fullerton, told police that Koreans in the area were trying to control him, Orange County prosecutors said in a press release.
Janke is accused of throwing two stones at the woman’s vehicle on March 31, damaging her bumper and cracking her windshield in Fullerton. The 38-year-old woman drove into a park and called 911.
Janke is charged with civil rights violations and vandalism, as well as improving the crime of hate crimes and a number of offenses involving the dropping of a substance on a vehicle. He could sit in prison for up to six years.
He is being held on bail of $ 51,500 and has pleaded not guilty. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
“A woman and her child should be able to drive down the street without worrying about skin color attack,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the press release. “Our commitment to continue to prosecute hate crimes to the fullest extent possible sends a strong message to all haters out there – there is no room for hatred here or anywhere else.”
The Associated Press
