3 facing hate crime charges in Grass Valley attack that sent man to hospital
Nevada County’s district attorney expressed outrage after a racially motivated attack Wednesday that sent a man to a Grass Valley hospital and three others to jail in the alleged hate crime.
“The evidence in this case shows that the defendants did not simply attack a man; they targeted him after hurling racial slurs, acting on prejudice rather than any provocation or dispute. That kind of conduct is abhorrent, it is unlawful, and it will be met with the full force of the law,” Nevada County District Attorney Jesse Wilson said in a statement posted to social media.
Grass Valley police said two Grass Valley men and a juvenile severely beat the victim Wednesday evening as he worked at a commercial parking lot on West McKnight Way, hurling racist slurs before the attack that sent their victim to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital for treatment.
His condition is not known, but police officials in their joint statement with Wilson’s office said the man and another who came to his aid provided investigators with enough information to lead to the arrests. Grass Valley detectives have identified and continue to seek a fourth suspect in the Wednesday attack.
The two men accused in the attack, ages 18 and 19, are each being held in Nevada County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail on charges of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, with a special allegation for creating great bodily injury; criminal conspiracy; and committing violence against another based on a protected characteristic.
Authorities said the 18-year-old also faces a brandishing charge for allegedly drawing what police described as “an edged weapon,” during the attack.
The third unidentified juvenile was booked into juvenile custody, his status unknown.
Wilson, the Nevada County district attorney, condemned the attack, saying it “strikes at something deeper” than physical wounds.
“An assault on any member of our community is unacceptable,” Wilson said in the statement. “But when violence is fueled by hatred — when individuals are targeted because of the color of their skin — it strikes at something far deeper than the injuries suffered in a single incident. It threatens the fundamental principles of respect and equality that our community stands upon.”
Authorities in the statement said the 18-year-old was recently freed after his arrest by Grass Valley police on felony assault charges in a Halloween attack over the objections of Nevada County prosecutors.
The 18-year-old “has a history of violence in our community,” authorities said in the joint statement.
Grass Valley police arrested the 18-year-old, suspected of hitting someone over the head with a metal container in an Oct. 31 attack that caused significant injury. He was freed on supervised pretrial release at his Nov. 3 Nevada Superior Court arraignment ahead of an upcoming court date in that case, said Nevada County District Attorney’s Office.
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