Woman Charged With 'Anti-Asian Hate Crime' After Using Racial Slur Against Store Staff, Spitting On Man

A 39-year-old California woman was arrested on Friday for allegedly using a racial slur against an Asian store staff and spitting on another Asian man who was having his lunch at a restaurant.

Marie Inman of Greenbrae was charged with petty theft, robbery and two counts of violation of civil rights by force or threat after the two alleged incidents which occurred on Feb. 13.

Inman was arrested on March 5 during an attempted theft in a Smart & Final grocery store, Mountain View Police Department said as per NBC News.

According to police, Inman was suspected of stealing food and clothing from a store on the 200 block of Castro Street in downtown on Feb. 13. Police said Inman had told the victim that she did not need to pay for the goods because of the staff's Asian ancestry.

Inman was being linked to another incident that took place on the same day. Police received reports from a downtown restaurant that a woman matching Inman's description had yelled racial slurs at two patrons and spat on one of them who was Asian.

Inman was reportedly detained following the incidents but was released because the officers had not witnessed either of the alleged crimes and both of the victims reportedly did not want her to be prosecuted, CBS San Francisco reported.

Authorities, however, carried on with the investigation owing to the department's policy of proactively investigating hate crimes.

"Hate crimes have not and will not be tolerated in Mountain View and as this case demonstrates, we take these crimes seriously and will investigate them to the fullest extent," Mountain View Police Chief Chris Hsiung said.

The Santa Clara District Attorney's Office was consulted as part of the investigation. Prosecutors concluded that hate crime charges should be brought against Inman and an arrest warrant was issued.

Inman faces possible jail time if convicted of the charges. She is scheduled to be arraigned on March 8.