SoCal man pleads guilty to hate crime against Asian woman

A Southern California man who prosecutors say spewed racial hate while attacking an Asian American woman has pled guilty to hate crime charges.

The Los Angeles Times reports authorities accused Jesse Lindsey of approaching a woman in Culver City while screaming racially tinged statements about Asian people including comments about Asian actor Jet Li and his martial arts skills.

According to CBS, Lindsey comments such as “You don’t belong here” and somehow mistook his victim for a man, expressing fears that he would “whoop” him because “those little dudes” are “crazy.”

Investigators say he then struck the woman in the head, sending her to the ground.

“Hate-fueled acts of violence have no place in our society,” said U.S. Dist. Atty. Martin Estrada in a statement. “Enforcing civil rights goes to the core of my office’s mission and we will continue to prosecute hate crimes, especially those committed by individuals whose bigotry results in physical harm to victims.”

Lindsey now faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

He had already been in prison in an unrelated case when he was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this year.

The attack occurred in 2021.