The Orange County District Attorney’s office hurled several charges at a California man who threw rocks at an Asian mother and her six-year-old son while they were driving, per USA TODAY. Roger Janke has pled not guilty after being charged with violating civil rights, vandalism, throwing a substance at a vehicle, and a hate crime.
“I refuse to tolerate hate in Orange County,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “A woman and her child should be able to drive down the street without worrying about being attacked because of the color of their skin.”
The incident occurred last week in Fullerton, California when Janke allegedly tossed two rocks at the mother and her son as she was driving in her Tesla, cracking her windshield, and damaging the bumper. She pulled over at a nearby park and alerted authorities. Janke “later told police Koreans in the area were trying to control him,” according to the District Attorney’s office.
Janke faces up to six years in state prison and six months in jail.
Stop AAPI Hate, a group tracking crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, released a study which found that from February 2020 to March 2021, there have been nearly 2,800 attacks fueled by discrimination, a staggering figure that doesn’t take into account the incidents which weren’t reported.
Last week, a 65-year-old Asian woman was brutally attacked outside of a hotel in New York City, as a nearby onlooker stood there and didn’t bother to intervene. Less than a month ago, a 21-year-old white man shot and killed eight people, six of which were of Asian descent, at three different massage parlors in Atlanta.
