South Bay Police Investigate Hate Crime Against Filipino Woman

LOS GATOS, CA — A woman of Filipino descent was shoved to the ground and told to “go back to (expletive) China” while walking in Los Gatos last week, according to the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department.

The department is investigating the incident, which occurred around 5 p.m. on Mar. 30, as a hate crime. It is the latest in a rise of hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans in the Bay Area and around the country, including countless documented attacks against older Asian people in the Bay Area. The Stop AAPI Hate organization reported more than 3,700 incidents of anti-Asian hate in the country since the pandemic began.

The victim was described by Chief of Police Peter Decena as a 40-year-old medical field worker who was dressed in scrubs and walking on Los Gatos Boulevard in the area of Garden Lane at the time of the attack. She was shoved “without provocation,” and as she fell, she turned and saw the suspect riding away on a bicycle, according to Decena.

She was not hurt, but “very shaken at what had occurred," Decena said. Police are searching for a suspect described as a white male with tanned skin or a light-skinned Hispanic wearing a black or grey bicycle helmet and dark-colored neck gaiter. He also had on a black t-shirt with white writing on the back and dark-colored jeans.

In Santa Clara County, the district attorney's office announced last month that it was prosecuting two separate hate crime incidents that occurred in the county. On Mar. 8, a Marin County woman was charged in connection with a hate crime in Mountain View, when authorities said she spat on a stranger of Asian descent, uttered an ethnic slur and told her to go back to "where you come from."

On Mar. 12, District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced charges against a San Francisco man after an Asian woman was sexually assaulted as she was waiting for her train at the San Jose Diridon Caltrain Station. The 26-year-old victim was grabbed by the neck, tossed to the ground and dragged while the suspect repeatedly said anti-Asian slurs, according to the district attorney.

All police chiefs in the county also signed onto a statement condemning the violence and pledging to hold those responsible accountable.

“As a person of both Asian and Pacific Islander descent, I have been watching with continued shock and dismay at the continuing acts of violence at people who look like me,” Decena said in a video statement. “I know from experience that many Asian Americans, and especially our seniors, are often reluctant to report crimes against them. We need to make sure that our family and friends understand how important it is to report these types of incidents.”

Anyone with information about the incident should contact the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department at 408-354-8600 or email police@losgatosca.gov