April 6, 2021
ONTARIO, California—The Ontario Police Department arrested 34-year-old Tuvorius Mencer and booked him for a hate crime and felony assault of an Asian couple. Additionally, Mencer also faces charges of assault on a peace officer.
The search is still on for a second suspect involved in the hate crime, which happened on April 4, Easter Sunday, at the Ontario Mills Mall in San Bernardino County, according to FOX11.
According to Ontario PD, the two men allegedly got into a verbal argument with an Asian couple over social distancing. The argument soon escalated into a physical altercation. FOX11 reported an Asian woman was seen on a stretcher with injuries captured on smartphone video following the incident.
FOX11 interviewed Louis Navarro, who explained in detail exactly what happened.
“I was walking down the corridor and then I noticed there was a disturbance about 50 feet in front of me and as I looked up, I noticed there were two black gentlemen striking an Asian female where she landed on the ground and I saw her holding the left side of her face. At that moment, I noticed there was an innocent bystander that was attempting to render aid to her, he then became assaulted and fell on the ground where they attacked him,” said Navarro.
Another person tried stopping the suspects, but ended up getting beat down as well, according to Navarro. He continued to explain when the suspects walked past him, he heard them use derogatory language.
“The two gentlemen then walked past me as I heard them using several profanity and derogatory remarks. The remarks that were made obvious to me makes it seem more of a hate crime,” he said.
Navarro recorded the aftermath.
“The mother had a two to three-year-old baby. It was just very alarming to me and I, myself own a security company and we deal with this on a regular basis, but it just caught me off guard,” Navarro continued.
The Vietnamese Martial Arts Center, 14891 Moran Street in Westminster, is providing free self-defense classes for seniors.
There are three sessions, one hour and a half each on April 10 and 17. The number listed for the sessions is 714-487-3676.
Feature Image via FOX11