Man accused of hate crime
A 35-year-old man is facing hate crime charges over allegations that he yelled a religious slur and threw coins at two Muslim women — one wearing a hijab — leaving a Target store in Irvine, authorities said.
Brandon Ricardo Pascual of Irvine was charged Wednesday with two felony counts of assault as a hate crime with ability to cause injury, the Orange County district attorney’s office said. If convicted, he could face up to three years in state prison.
On March 1, authorities said, the women were walking to their car when Pascual pulled up and yelled an “anti-Muslim expletive.”
He brief ly stopped his car behind theirs, preventing them from leaving, officials said. After he drove off, the women left.
A few minutes later, the women were stopped at a red light when they heard clanking against their car. The man was throwing coins at them through an open window, police said.
Police used surveillance video and a partial plate number recorded by the women to identify Pascual.