A 38-year-old homeless man who attacked an Asian-American cyclist with a rock in Berkley, California and turned himself in at the Berkeley Police Department after the crime is now being charged with a hate crime.
The incident happened last week on Tuesday at around 9:30 a.m. at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street when the victim, whose name was not revealed in the report but only identified as an Asian-American, bent down to unlock his bike.
This is the time when the suspect, identified as Jeffrey Frazier Pachingger, “grabbed a rock, walked towards the victim from behind and hit him in the back of the head,” according to police report, Fugitive Watch reported.
Pachingger, who is Hispanic, admitted to the police that he attacked the unnamed victim with a rock “because of ‘an illegal Asian takeover,’” as said in the statement taken by Officer Jason Muniz, SF Gate reported.
The suspect “admitted to willfully trying to kill the victim because of his ethnicity and his belief of ‘an Asian takeover,’” and “that his malice toward the victim was due to the victim’s ethnicity,” Muniz continued.
Despite feeling dizzy and about to lose consciousness due to losing “a large amount of blood,” the victim still managed to run away from Pachingger in the fear that he would strike again. He was later found on Shattuck Avenue and Berkeley Square by first responders with a laceration and bruising to his head. Paramedics took him to Alta Bates hospital for immediate treatment.
Pachingger, on Thursday, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and battery with serious bodily injury by the Alameda County district attorney’s office including a special allegation that identifies these as hate crimes. The 38-year-old man, who was already on probation before this incident, could be sent to prison if convicted.
The suspect is being held at the Berkeley Jail with a $130,000 bail, said in the reports.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons / Oregon Department of Transportation (CC BY 2.0)
