Alameda County D.A. Adds Hate Charge to Defendant Facing Trial for Assault with Deadly Weapon
By Carla Thomas
On Wednesday, March 7, new Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price added a second charge to a man already accused of a hate crime.
“Hate crimes will not be tolerated in Alameda County,” said Price at a Tuesday afternoon press conference in Oakland. Price amended the charges from an assault in Fremont in which Aqweel Akbar Khan, 46, ran over an African American man six times with a car on Dec. 6, 2021.
Area surveillance captured the incident on video, that has gone viral. The victim survived the assault with major injuries and remains traumatized. Reports say the victim said he’d been verbally attacked with racial slurs by Khan before. He also accused Khan of vandalizing his car with racial slurs.
Former Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley did not charge Khan with a hate crime in the alleged assault with a car and offered no explanation.
Khan was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury. Following a review by prosecutors in Price’s office, the hate crime allegation was added.
The other alleged hate crime by Khan was against a woman of Indian descent in August 2021, Alameda County prosecutors said. Near Lake Elizabeth in Fremont the defendant approached her, and cursed her, and made comments about the victim speaking to her brother in Hindi. He punched the victim several times, causing her to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.
Khan was initially charged in 2021 with one count of attempted murder for the second incident. He was also charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism over $400, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury.
There were special allegations including felony hate crime, use of a deadly weapon, and great bodily injury for the first incident involving the Hindu woman, but similar charges were missing for the African American man. Honorable Judge Kimberly Coldwell held the defendant to answer on these charges in a preliminary hearing in April 2022.
Price and her prosecution team believe racial bias led to both attacks.
Court documents state Khan admitted to spray painting racist words on the victim’s vehicle and trying to kill the man he ran over.
Price explained that Khan fled the scene and the county following the attack with the car. Records detail Khan’s arrest three days later in the Sacramento.
Price commended the Fremont Police for their prompt apprehension of Khan and their repeated requests that the attack against the African American man be properly charged as a hate crime.
The case was scheduled for a pretrial hearing on March 7 and was postponed to April 14, 2023. The District Attorney plans to amend the charges before that date.
According to Price, each of Khan’s victims testified at his preliminary hearing.
“Hate has no home in Alameda County,” said Price.
The post Alameda County D.A. Adds Hate Charge to Defendant Facing Trial for Assault with Deadly Weapon first appeared on Post News Group.
