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Two men, including a 56-year-old Redwood City resident, have been charged with separate hate crimes in Santa Clara County.
A Redwood City salesman was charged with a hate crime after prosecutors said he kicked the front screen door of an elderly Persian man in South San Jose and spat on him.
On Aug. 25, David Greenberg, 56, knocked on the front door of an elderly Persian man who spoke limited English, according to Santa Clara County prosecutors. When the man could not understand what Greenberg was asking, Greenberg kicked the bottom of the man's screen door and spat towards him, prosecutors said. He then shouted, "Go back to your (expletive) country," they said. Greenberg spat at the elderly again, prosecutors allege.
The elderly man's son heard the exchange and confronted Greenberg. He then called the police.
In a separate case, Richard Hanford, 62, of Los Gatos, assaulted an Asian American woman walking her dog in October, prosecutors said.
Hanford struck the woman in the face twice after shouting at her to move out of his way on a sidewalk. When the woman told him that he could walk around her, he said, "This is America" and hit her, prosecutors said. The woman is about 1-foot shorter than Hanford and weighs 100 pounds less than him, they said.
“Our community deeply values diversity, respects it, seeks it,” DA Jeff Rosen said. “Intolerance is not an American ideal. In these cases, it is a crime.”
According to prosecutors, Hanford – who will be arraigned on November 16 – faces an additional battery charge while Greenburg faces an additional assault charge when he is arraigned on December 6. They each face incarceration for these offenses if convicted.
If you are the victim of a hate crime or witness one, please call your local law enforcement agency.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the name of one of the men charged with a hate crime.
