Woman sexually assaulted at San Jose Diridon Station

SAN JOSE >> A woman was sexually assaulted early Wednesday at the San Jose Diridon Station, and authorities are looking into the possibility the crime was racially motivated, a transit official said.

About 6:30 a.m., a woman exited a Caltrain and was walking in the pedestrian tunnels connecting the train platforms to the main station plaza when she was sexually assaulted by a man, according to Caltrain spokesperson Tasha Bartholomew.

The incident was brief, and the woman immediately found a station security guard and explained what happened. Transit police were notified and were able to arrest the man a short time later. He was booked into Santa Clara County jail, Bartholomew said.

Authorities have not yet identified him.

A woman identified by KTVU only as Tiffany told the station that the entire incident lasted a minute and gave her bruises on her knee and a strained neck.

“I just felt completely helpless in the whole situation,” Tiffany told the station. “He was saying f-u, f-u Asian, this is completely bull. All while he was keeping me on the ground with his grip on my hair.”

Authorities were investigating the possibility that the man made such “negative statements” about Asian people. Such statements could lead to hate crime charges, Bartholomew said.

“To hear about what happened this morning is very shocking,” Bartholomew said in an interview. She said such crimes are very rare on Caltrain, and she was surprised one occurred at the busy Diridon Station.

“All trains are accessed through this tunnel area,” she said.

The main hub serves not only Caltrain but also Amtrak, Capitol Corridor and Valley Transit Authority buses, she said.

Bartholomew said the agency believes it was an isolated incident.

“It should not be something that’s common and continuously happen in our Asian community,” Tiffany told KTVU.