Man assaults Latino utility worker, California officials say. ‘Go back to your country’
A California man has been charged with a hate crime after officials say he assaulted a utility worker and called him a racist slur.
Roger Stefan Witthoeft, Jr. was driving a pickup truck on Sept. 15, 2021 at around 11 p.m. when he reached roadblocks and a detour set up in Point Loma Heights, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliot said in a March 4 news release.
A San Diego Gas & Electric worker told Witthoeft that the road was closed, the release said. A crew was repairing an electrical box in the area.
Witthoeft then “verbally and physically confronted” the utility worker, a Latino man. According to witnesses, Witthoeft yelled racial slurs at him, including, “Why don’t you talk in English you ----ing immigrant?” and “Go back to your country you ----ing immigrant,” the release said.
Witnesses say he told the worker to fight him, and shoved and swung at him, knocking his hard hat off, the city attorney said in the release.
Witthoeft has since been charged with committing battery, as well as a hate crime enhancement and violating the victim’s constitutional rights by threat of force.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Man assaults Latino utility worker, California officials say. ‘Go back to your country’."
