|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A San Jose woman is facing battery and hate crime charges for allegedly attacking two employees and calling them “stupid” Mexicans during the assault, which took place at a McDonald’s in Mountain View over the weekend.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday it will file the two misdemeanor charges against 40-year-old Alena Jenkins, who is accused of attacking the two employees after refusing to leave the McDonald’s on El Monte Avenue. The incident is the second hate crime arrest in Mountain View this month.
Police say Jenkins — originally described as a transient — entered the McDonald’s shortly before 7 a.m. on Saturday, March 20, and reportedly refused to wear a mask while dining indoors, violating COVID-19 public health restrictions. An employee repeatedly asked Jenkins to leave, but she refused and called him a “F—ing Mexican,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Jenkins allegedly shoved a plexiglass shield and a sign at the employee, and walked around the front counter to punch the restaurant manager in the arm and shoulder while calling him a “stupid Mexican.” Jenkins reportedly made more racially charged comments after officers arrived. She was arrested and booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail.
The store employee was not injured and declined medical treatment.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement that targeting people because of their perceived ethnicity is a crime, and that there is “no excuse for hatred.”
The district attorney’s office is also pursuing similar hate crime charges against a woman who harassed and spat on people in downtown Mountain View on Feb. 13. She was arrested on March 5 and faces battery and hate crime charges that she allegedly targeted Asian Americans.
This person clearly needs help either for substance abuse or mental health. Same for the woman arrested for the Feb 13th incident. Both exhibited behavior that was dangerous to others. Harassing people, spitting on them, punching them, and being disruptive is not normal behavior. The attacker of the Asian woman at Diridon Station also suffers from mental illness, exacerbated by homelessness (per the public defender). Hate crimes clearly cannot be tolerated, but when someone acts out because of untreated mental illness, that needs to be recognized..