A Cincinnati man has been charged with a federal hate crime after allegedly attacking an Asian American student at the University of Cincinnati.
ABC News reports that the attack occurred on Aug. 17, 2021. The student said his attacker punched him while making several racist remarks. He told the student to go back to his country and blamed him for bringing the “kung flu” to America.
“He was like, go back to your country. And then he said, like you, he goes, ‘You’ve got the kung flu here. Like, I’m like, I’m going to kill you. You’re going to die,’ and you know, I just stood there, you know, I was and all like, wow, is this really happening to me? And, you know, that’s when he punched me,” the victim said in an interview with WLWT.
According to WPCO, authorities arrested 26-year-old Darrin Johnson as a suspect in the attack. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in a Hamilton County municipal court but is also facing a federal hate crime charge. The federal charge carries a 10-year prison sentence.
The victim believes the federal charge is a step in the right direction.
“I feel really hopeful that things are going to go into the right direction. And I hope he gets the mental treatment he needs,” the victim told WLWT.
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