CUPERTINO, Calif. (KRON) — A man is facing felony hate crime charges for allegedly attacking a Hispanic woman in Cupertino, screaming racial epithets, and threatening to kill a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy, prosecutors said Friday.
Prosecutors said 61-year-old Clifford Stewart told the deputy, “All you piece of (expletive) people sneak into this country, have a baby, and get a free apartment.”
The incident began on Wednesday morning when Stewart removed a T-Mobile sign outside a phone store on Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino and threw the sign into the street, according to investigators.
Prosecutors said the sign-throwing was unprovoked.
Two T-Mobile store employees, a 38-year-old Hispanic woman and 33-year-old Asian Man, walked out of the store to retrieve the sign.
“Stewart immediately reacted by yelling to both of them ‘(expletive) Chinese, you don’t belong here’ and ‘stupid Mexicans.’ When the woman told Stewart she was going to call the police, Stewart kicked her in the stomach and punched her in the face so violently that she temporarily lost sight in her left eye,” prosecutors wrote.
The male employee helped his injured co-worker and Stewart fled into the Cupertino Sports Center. When deputies arrived and arrested Stewart, he made racist threats against one of the deputies, according to prosecutors.
“Hate crimes send an ugly and ignorant message to our community that certain people are not
welcome here,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “My response is that I will do everything in my
power to hold criminal racists accountable in court. Hate is not welcome here.”
The injured woman was transported to a hospital.
Stewart will be arraigned Friday afternoon in the Palo Alto Courthouse on charges of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, hate crimes, vandalism, and threat against a police officer. If convicted, he could face prison time.
