A white woman, 54, who was caught on camera carrying out multiple racist attacks last month including yelling ‘go back to whatever Asian country you came from’ at a jogger has been arrested for battery over an incident back in October.
Lena Hernandez, a retired social worker, was arrested Friday and charged with battery after she allegedly pushed a woman to the ground and hit her in Del Amo Mall in Torrance, California, when the woman tried to protect a janitor from the suspect’s angry tirade.
Hernandez was tracked down by cops after victim Kayceelyn Salminao recognized her alleged attacker in two separate racist videos posted on social media last month showing the suspect verbally harassing Asian people.
In one video Hernandez is seen shouting at a woman who was exercising in Wilson Park and telling her to ‘go back to whatever f****** Asian country you came from’.
After that video went viral, a 42-year-old father came forward with a second video in which the same woman was seen telling him to ‘go home’ and that he would be ‘f****d to death’ while his eleven-year-old son waited nearby.
Lena Hernandez, a retired social worker, was arrested Friday and charged with battery after she allegedly pushed a woman to the ground and hit her in Del Amo Mall in Torrance, California, when the woman tried to protect a janitor from the suspect’s angry tirade. She is pictured here after the October alleged attack
Torrance police announced Hernandez was taken into custody at about 1 p.m. Friday and charged with the battery misdemeanour.
She was later released on bail.
The charges relate to the 2019 incident where she allegedly physically abused Salminao in the California shopping mall.
Salminao said she had come to the aid of a janitor, who Hernandez was allegedly shouting at for no reason.
Hernandez then became physical with her and pushed her to the ground, she said.
‘She came out and physically shoves me to the ground, I physically fell to the ground. She points at me and says you better not get up or else,’ Salminao told CBS Los Angeles.
‘She grabs my hair; she pulls my head down and then she’s starting to hit me on the back of my head. She’s saying all those really mean words just like the video.’
Salminao’s husband rushed to her aid and she was able to take pictures of Hernandez before she left.
She filed a police report after the incident but said she did not hear back from the authorities.
Hernandez was tracked down by cops after victim Kayceelyn Salminao recognized her alleged attacker in two separate racist videos posted on social media last month showing the suspect verbally harassing Asian people
Salminao said the woman had pushed her to the ground after she intervened to stop Hernandez alleged shouting at a janitor. Pictured is allegedly Hernandez walking away
Salminao came forward last month after spotting Hernandez in the videos on social media.
‘Photos of her walking away while I was waiting for the cops,’ she wrote on social media, pointing out it was the same woman who had abused her. ‘This white lady!’
Torrance Police Chief Eve Berg identified the woman in the video and pictures as Hernandez and said they were trying to locate her last month.
The city attorney’s office said there is ‘insufficient’ evidence to support criminal charges over the two incidents that occurred at Wilson Park on June 10.
The first video showed Hernandez having a racist rant at Sherry Berry when she was working out in the park.
The disturbing incident, which was captured on cell phone footage, happened on a set of stairs at Charles H. Wilson Park in Torrance.
Berry was working out on the staircase when Hernandez bumped into her.
The younger woman responds to the bump by saying ‘Jesus’ just seconds before Hernandez launches into a racially charged tirade.
Hernandez first came to the public’s attention on Wednesday when Sherry Berry filmed her verbally assaulting her and telling her to ‘go back to whatever f****** Asian country you belong’
Friends of the Berry said she often records her workouts and happened to catch the racist moment on Wednesday. Pictured, Sherry Berry exercising before the incident began
‘Hey, listen to me! We don’t play games here anymore. Next time you ever talk to me like that you’re going to get you a** kicked by my family. They’re going to f*** you up!’ Hernandez says.
Berry questions what she did to cause the sudden outburst, but the older woman continues to hurl insults and says, ‘because you’re an a******.’
‘Why don’t you go somewhere else?’ Hernandez says. ‘Get the f*** out of this world, get the f*** out of these stairs, go back to whatever f****** Asian country you belong in!
‘This is not your place; this is not your home. We do not want you here!’ the woman adds.
She then added: ‘You put that on Facebook, I hope you do because every f****** person will beat the crap out of you from here on out.
‘Don’t you ever say, ‘oh Jesus’ to me when I want to use the stairs you little b****.’
The victim points out that there are other stairs located throughout the park, but this does not quell the woman’s verbal attack.
‘You are a sick, f****** ignorant teenager… Who wears black in California sun? Who the f*** wears black? Are you an idiot? You wear black in California sun? Seriously?’
After Berry’s video went viral, a 42-year-old father who wished to remain anonymous shared a further video from June 10, the same day of Berry’s run-in with Hernandez, which shows her hurling racist abuse at him at the same park.
A second video of Hernandez was posted from the same park on the same day
‘I am not a racist person You need to go home,’ Hernandez is heard telling the 42-year-old father in the second video to emerge of her engaging in a racist tirade
His eleven-year-old son was also in the car and witnessed the abuse as Hernandez is heard telling the man to ‘go home’ on the orders of her government.
Hernandez also mocks the man which accents and by calling him ‘Chinaman’.
‘I am not a racist person. You need to go home,’ she says.
‘I am from here,’ he answers, to which she says, ‘I don’t care about your Facebook. You know how many people can’t stand you being here. I don’t play games, you play games, I play games where you get f****d to death.’
As the man gets out of his car to take her license plate number, Hernandez continues with her mocking accents and pretending that she can’t understand him.
‘Do you know who my family is? Do you know who your family is?’ Hernandez continues.
‘Go home this is from my government. Go home, you are so f****d, you’re gonna get f****d, your kids are gonna get f****d. This is my country, and this is my government. Go home.’
The shocking videos emerged during protests for racial justice across the United States following the death of George Floyd, an African American man who died after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.