California – A man was arrested on bias charges for disrupting a ‘Stop Asian Hate’ rally in Diamond Bar and yelling “go back to China!” at rallygoers.
Steve Lee Dominguez, 56, was arrested on Thursday and charged with two counts of “bias-motivated interference with federal protected activities,” but the incident took place last year.
A ‘Stop Asian Hate’ rally took place a week after a man fatally shot 8 people – including 6 Asian women at a massage parlor in Atlanta last March.
According to federal prosecutors, Dominguez “deliberately drove his car through the crosswalk of the intersection at the red light, made an illegal u-turn and cut off the route of several rally participants lawfully crossing the pedestrian crosswalk.”
Video of the incident from March 2021:
The Justice Department reported on the unsealed indictment:
During the rally, Dominguez was driving a black Honda four-door sedan and was stopped at a red light at the intersection. Dominguez allegedly yelled, “Go back to China!” and other racial slurs at the demonstrators. Dominguez then allegedly deliberately drove his car through the intersection’s crosswalk at the red light, made an illegal U-turn and cut off the route of several rally participants lawfully crossing the street.
One of the victims was an Asian woman carrying a sign that read, “Stop Asian Hate.” Another victim was a minor Black female rally participant who carried a sign that read, “End the Violence Against Asians.” Another person who was cut off in the crosswalk was a 9-year-old child, and Dominguez’s car narrowly missed coming into contact with her and other victims, according to the indictment. No injuries were reported.
Dominguez allegedly then pulled his car over some distance away from the intersection, got out of the car and continued to yell racial epithets and threats at the demonstrators. He then called the police, identified himself as “John Doe” and falsely reported to police that the rally participants were blocking the street and he had to run a red light “because they were about to trample my car,” the indictment alleges. He also allegedly requested that police “get some control out” at the intersection.
