A prison guard on the Central California coast is under arrest in the beating of an Asian American bank manager, reports KSBY.
Police in Grover Beach in San Luis Obispo arrested James Allen Jones Jr of hate crime and battery charges.
Authorities say Jones became upset over a mask requirement at a local Wells Fargo Bank. He’s accused of using racist comments regarding his ethnicity toward the bank manager who tried to enforce the county ordinance concerning masks.
According to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, the suspect returned and confronted the bank manager in the parking lot. A fight ensued before the suspect ran off. The victim declined medical treatment.
Using surveillance video, police identified the suspect and arrested him 10 days later. They arrested him at his workplace after serving a search warrant at his home.
Jones works as a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation corrections officer at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
Corrections officers were “helpful in making the arrest and turning Mr. Jones over to our detectives at the institution.”
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