Probe in Los Gatos after Asian medical worker attacked

Filipina woman, 40, reported being shoved to the ground from behind Tuesday afternoon by man who yelled, ‘Go back to (expletive) China!’

A hate crime investigation has been launched after an Asian medical worker said she was shoved to the ground earlier this week while walking on the street by a man who yelled a racist phrase at her, to according to police.

In a video posted Thursday, Peter Decena, chief of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, detailed Tuesday’s assault on Los Gatos Boulevard near Garden Lane.

It was about 5 p.m. when the victim, a 40-year-old Filipina woman, reported that she was walking along the boulevard in her medical scrubs when she was attacked from behind by a man on a bicycle, who then yelled the racist phrase before taking off, Decena said.

“Without provocation, she was shoved from behind, causing her to fall to the ground,” Decena said. “As she was falling, she heard someone yell, ‘Go back to (expletive) China!’ ”

Police released a general description of the attacker: a White man with tan skin or a light-skinned Latino man, wearing a black or gray bicycle helmet, a dark-colored neck gaiter, a black T-shirt with white lettering on the back and darkcolored jeans. He last was seen heading south on Los Gatos Boulevard.

Decena said the woman was “shaken” but not injured.

The chief, who has Asian and Pacific Islander heritage, noted that the attack occurred amid a prolonged wave of anti-Asian violence and sentiment in the Bay Area and across the country, saying that he has “been watching with shock and dismay the continuing acts of violence and hate being directed towards people who look like me.”

Anyone with information for investigators can call 408-3548600 or email police@losaltosca.gov.