Police in the Bay Area are searching for a man who allegedly shoved a Filipino American woman to the ground Tuesday while telling her to return to China.
The 40-year-old victim was not physically harmed by the incident but was “obviously shaken,” said Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Chief Peter Decena. He described the woman as “one of our medical heroes,” adding that she was dressed in scrubs at the time of the attack.
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“Without provocation, the victim was shoved from behind, causing her to fall to the ground. As she was falling, she heard someone say, ‘Go back to expletive China,'” Decena said in a video message about the incident.
The police department is investigating the incident as a hate crime and urged the public to come forward with information about the suspect, described as being either a white or Hispanic man last seen wearing dark clothes and riding a bicycle.
Hate crimes against Asian Americans across the country increased 150% in 2020 from 2019. The largest increases in hate crimes have been in large coastal areas, such as the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and New York City, according to an analysis released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
Decena, who is Asian American, lamented the rise in hate crimes, saying his department takes hate crime reports “very seriously.”
“I have been watching with shock and dismay the continuing acts of violence and hate being directed towards people who look like me,” Decena said.
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“I know from experience that many Asian Americans, and especially our seniors, are often reluctant to report crimes against them,” Decena said. “We need to make sure that our family and our friends understand how important it is to report these types of incidents.”
