Remember this lady? Of course you do — she would be hard to forget. Just under two weeks ago video surfaced that appeared to show her accosting several Muslim men praying in a Castro Valley park. She then proceeded to douse one of the men with hot coffee before striking him with an umbrella. Oh yeah, and she called them "murderers" and ranted about Allah being "Satan" for good measure. Well, in the intervening two weeks this crazed parkgoer has been identified and charged with a hate crime.
Denise Slader was charged with "battery and violating the civil rights of the men in conjunction with the hate-crime provision of the state penal code," notes the San Francisco Chronicle.
When reached by the paper, Slader didn't have much to say.
“Look, I don’t want to talk to you," she said. "No comment. No comment. Goodbye.”
Above and beyond the extremely troubling behavior depicted in the video, Slader disturbingly works for the parole division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. When reached for comment by the Chronicle, a department spokesperson said that he did not know if or how Slader's employment would be impacted by the charges.
“We expect all of our employees to treat everyone with dignity and respect both on and off the job," explained spokesperson Jeffrey Callison. "We cannot comment on the specifics of that investigation; however, discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated.”
As for the men she allegedly attacked? Rasheed Albeshari, who both filmed the encounter and was hit by Slader, put his faith in the courts.
“I trust the justice system and we’ll wait for the court decision,” he told the Chronicle.
To recap, you can watch Rasheed's video of the encounter below.
#Islamophobia After praying, this lady approached us and started yelling at us that we're brainwashed for believing in Allah, "Allah is evil" she said. I started video taping her, I ,also, was hit by an umbrella before taking a shower of coffee right on my face. And what happened next was this..
Posted by Rasheed Albeshari on Monday, December 7, 2015
Previously: Video: Hateful East Bay Woman Accosts Muslims During Prayers, Calls Them 'Murderers'