Jesse Lindsey of Fontana was charged with committing a hate crime May 29. Prosecutors accuse him of punching an Asian-American woman in the head while in Culver City.
Lindsey is already serving time in San Quentin prison after pleading no contest Jan. 8 to one felony count of grand theft auto and one count of felon in possession of a firearm in San Bernardino Superior Court.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, Lindsey asked the woman for a lighter or a cigarette at 1 a.m., June 14, 2021. After the woman said she did not smoke, Lindsey began following her, called her Korean, and shouted “You (expletive) Asian guy, you don’t belong here.”
The release says that Lindsey misgendered her.
He asked, “You can’t say hi to a (expletive) white boy?” before punching her in the head, knocking her down.
The release says that the punch was caught on surveillance video.
The woman needed 11 stitches, took a month off of work, and had ongoing pain for a year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“The victim in this case was simply minding her own business when she was verbally abused and violently attacked based on nothing more than her appearance,” said Krysti Hawkins, the acting assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
Lindsey had pleaded no contest to attempted extortion in San Bernardino Superior Court in 2016.
