Hate crime charge dropped for man accused of attacking Virginia sushi restaurant owner after skipping $70 bill

October 6, 2022

A man charged with a hate crime for allegedly attacking a sushi restaurant owner in Crystal City, Virginia, last year has reportedly been released and ordered to undergo mental health treatment after pleading guilty to a lesser offense.

Jordon Bevan fled Bonsai Grill without paying after consuming $70 worth of sushi rolls on May 4, 2021. The restaurant owner, Henry Kim, and his mother chased after him while also filming the confrontation.

Bevan became aggressive when the pair called 911. He allegedly pushed the mother to the ground.

“Get out of my face [expletive]. You Asians have the coronavirus. I don’t want it from you guys. Get away,” he allegedly told the mother and son.

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Bevan, who was 28 at the time, was arrested days after the incident. He was initially charged with a felony hate crime as well as misdemeanors for resisting arrest, defrauding an innkeeper and petit larceny.

This week, ARLnow reported that the hate crime charge was reduced to misdemeanor assault and battery, for which Bevan pled guilty in September 2021. He was not prosecuted for the additional charges.

Bevan, who was reported to have “no fixed address,” was also discharged to live with his mother in Ohio. Additionally, he was required to undergo mental health treatment, which included psychiatric visits and antipsychotic medications.

Court records obtained by ARLnow only showed Bevan using the term “Asians.” It is unclear what happened to his alleged statements regarding coronavirus.

“For each case, we take into consideration the evidence that supports the elements of the charge, mitigating evidence such as mental illness, and what is the just thing to do for all the parties involved,” Arlington’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti told ARLnow. “Balancing all those things, here it made sense to focus on mental health treatment.”

Bevan is set to return to court on Oct. 11 for a progress review. Aside from the Crystal City case, he is also facing two counts of petit larceny and one count of resisting arrest for separate but similar dine-and-dash incidents in Pentagon City in April 2021.

Featured Image via Arlington County Police Department

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