Southern California man accused of hate crime in an attack on an elderly Asian couple

A Southern California man accused of beating an elderly Asian couple in an unprovoked attack has been charged with hate crimes, the Orange County prosecutor said Wednesday.

After an attack on a Korean couple in a park on Sunday, Michael Orlando Vivona, 26, of Orange, was surrounded by people until officers arrived and arrested him, Orange police said.

Vivona has been charged with two felonies of elder abuse and two felonies of hate crimes that cause injuries, and he is also facing two improvements in hate crimes, prosecutor Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

According to the statement, he is also under investigation in connection with a verbal assault on US Olympic karate athlete Sakura Kokumai in the same park on April 1.

Kokumai posted a video the next day showing a man threatening her, telling her to “go home” and using the words “Chinese” and “disgusting”. Kokumai, a Japanese American, was born in Honolulu.

The attacks come amid an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in some parts of the country. In August, New York City police established a task force.

The people attacked Sunday night at Grijalva Park, aged 78 and 79, were walking around 7:40 PM when Vivona, officials claimed, ran to them, punched the man in the face and then hit the woman.

After his arrest, Vivona later made statements to police that belittled Asians, “Spitzer’s office said.

Vivona has pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to online court records. He is being held in lieu of $ 65,000 bail, according to the district attorney’s office.

Records show that a public defender represents Vivona, but the out-of-hours contact details could not be found immediately Wednesday evening. A number for Vivona’s house was not immediately available.

Kokumai told NBC News this month that she was jogging on April 1 when the incident happened.

“When he got closer, it shocked me a little, because you just never know what could happen,” she said.

She described being in “fight-or-flight mode” during the encounter and used the incident to remind the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community that they are not alone and to encourage people to get up. And pay attention to each other.

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