"He had a hate towards Asians and made that clear"
The man who harassed Olympian Sakura Kokumai has been arrested for attacking a senior Korean couple.
Michael Vivona, 25, has verbally harassed Kokumai in April. The gold medalist captured some of Vivona’s abuse on camera in which he used racial slurs.
“You’re a loser. Go home, you stupid bitch,” he said in the video. “I’ll fuck you up.”
“What happened to me was nothing compared to what we see on social media right now — people getting hit, people get slashed, people getting killed,” Kokumai said at the time.
On Sunday, Vivona punched a 79-year-old man and his 80-year-old wife, and knocked them to the ground. The incident occurred in Orange, California.
Orange City Police Sergeant Phillip McMullin said Vivona “made statements that proved that the assault was racially motivated. He had a hate towards Asians and made that clear.”
Vivera is believed to be homeless and living out of his car. He was booked on two counts of elder abuse and one count of criminal threats in reference to the incident in early April.
There has been a recent rise in attacks on Asians across America. In response, a Brooklyn woman is giving out free safety alarms to Asian Americans in New York City.
Recent attacks against the country include an Asian woman who was hit in the face in Philadelphia.
In California, Vietnamese family was tied up in their own home by robbers who stole their entire life savings in Oakland, California.
Also in California, an elderly Asian American woman was kicked in the face by a suspect who was on parole for fatally stabbing his mother.
Most recently, a firefighter who attacked an Asian American man claims he was drugged before the attack.
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