Hate crime charges have been filed against a woman who allegedly assaulted two Asian American staff members at San Francisco General Hospital earlier this week.
San Francisco Sheriff’s deputies arrested 35-year-old Angelina Balenzuela at the hospital at about 9 a.m. Monday.
Authorities have not provided details about the alleged assaults, which were first reported by Mission Local, but prosecutors have filed hate crime charges and battery on hospital grounds charges against Balenzuela.
“Owing to the great number of violent acts directed at the Asian community, we take this incident very seriously, and the assault is being investigated as a racially motivated crime,” said Hospital Spokesman Brent Andrew in a statement. “We denounce all such acts, without exception.”
Andrew said hospital officials are working with security and others to develop a plan to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.
This is the latest in a series of hate crimes against Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic.
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