Woman could face hate crime charges in Mountain View
A woman could face hate crime charges after Mountain View police said she yelled racial epithets at an Asian patron in a local diner last month and spat in one victim’s direction.
Karen Inman, 39, was arrested by Mountain View police at 11 a.m. Friday in a separate incident after she tried stealing candy and ice cream from a Smart & Final grocery store on the 100 block of East El Camino Real. Police said there is “no indication” that she made any statements about anyone’s race or ethnicity Friday, but she was identified as allegedly making “racially charged statements” toward people of Asian descent during a battery and a theft in February.
On Feb. 13, officers responded to Inman allegedly stealing food and clothing from a market on the 200 block of Castro Street in Mountain View. Police said the woman “allegedly told the victims that she did not have to pay because of their Asian ethnicity.”
Minutes later, police said officers recognized the woman walking in downtown Mountain View and detained her. When officers were interviewing Inman, police said they were alerted of a separate incident involving a woman matching her description who had yelled at two patrons at a local restaurant, one of whom was Asian.
“As Inman was yelling racial epithets at the diner, she allegedly also spit in his direction,” police said. The victims did not want to press charges, and Inman was released, police said.
The arrest comes during a surge of verbal and physical attacks against Asian Americans in the Bay Area. More than 30 violent crimes against Bay Area residents of Asian descent have been reported this year, and the Stop AAPI Hate project recorded more than 2,800 incidents of violence, harassment or discrimination against Asian Americans in the United States since the start of the coronavirus pandemic through December 2020.
Investigators brought the case to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for consideration, and prosecutors “established that hate crime charges could be brought against Inman,” police said. A warrant for her arrest was issued last week, police said.
Police Chief Chris Hsiung called the case “disheartening and disturbing” and said all hate crimes would be investigated “to the fullest extent.”
City officials urge anyone who witnesses a “suspected racially motivated incident” to call the police nonemergency line at 6509036344, or to call 911 if a “suspected hate crime” is in progress.