Esmeralda Upton
PLANO, Texas (AP) — A woman was arrested and faces possible hate crime charges after she was caught in a video of a racist rant and attack on a woman of South Asian ancestry in a Dallas suburban parking lot, in another order. A disturbing case of anti-racism.Asian violence spreads across America
Plano police said in a statement Aug. 25 that Esmeralda Upton, 58, of Plano, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and terrorist threat. She was jailed on $10,000 bail.
Rani Banerjee told Dallas TV station WFAA that she and three friends had just finished dinner at a restaurant when Upton approached them in the parking lot.
“Suddenly, we heard this woman yelling at us and started walking towards us. We were shocked by the racial slurs and aggressive attitude she used,” Banerjee said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack.
“The verbal abuse and alleged physical assault of four Indian-American women in Plano is truly appalling,” CAIR-DFW executive director Faizan Syed told the station. “This kind of hatred has no place in North Texas. We call on law enforcement to investigate this incident as a hate crime.”
A police statement said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. Prison officials did not list Upton’s attorney.
The clashes occurred shortly after 8pm on August 24. A widely circulated video showed Upton making blasphemous rants at them, challenging their presence in the United States, threatening to shoot them and physically attacking Banerjee, who was recording the confrontation. her phone.
Anti-Asian violence has risen sharply in recent years. Last year, a shooting at a massage parlor in and around Atlanta that killed eight people, including six Asian women, fueled Asian-American anger and fear.
Earlier this month, a man charged with shooting and killing three Asian-American women at a salon in Dallas’ Koreatown was charged with hate crimes and other crimes. In early August, a West Texas man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for attacking an Asian family outside a Midland department store in 2020 because he believed they were Chinese and therefore responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
