Man heard using homophobic, racist language on TikTok arrested on hate crime charges in California
A Colorado man was arrested Monday on hate crime charges in California after he was heard making homophobic and racist comments toward an Asian man and woman in a viral TikTok video.
San Ramon police arrested 40-year-old Jordan Douglas Krah of Denver on two counts of committing a hate crime. He is being held at the Martinez Detention Facility.
The incident took place on Christmas Eve at an In-N-Out Burger in San Ramon where Arine Kim and Elliot Ha were filming themselves for a food review. That’s when police said a “male suspect approached the victims unprovoked homophobic and racist rant, causing the victims to fear for their safety.”
San Ramon Police Chief Denton Carlson saw the video online and began reaching out to people on social media to identify the suspect and victims, according to police. After contacting the victims, an investigation was launched that led to Mr. Krah’s arrest.
In the video, a man can be heard derogatorily referring to Mr. Ha and Ms. Kim as homosexuals. The man, who was only briefly shown on camera from behind, later refers to Mr. Ha as “Kim Jong-un’s boyfriend.”
Mr. Ha made some comments back to the man, who then made racist remarks and said he’d spit in Mr. Ha’s face.
The man can be heard referring to himself as a “slave master” and directing a homophobic slur toward Mr. Ha and Ms. Kim before saying he would “see you outside in a minute.”
Both Mr. Ha and Ms. Kim said in the video multiple times that the man was staring at them through the restaurant’s window.
My friend and I were eating at the In-N-Out in San Ramon when a man began hurling racist slurs and threatening us. pic.twitter.com/hUoXvsHPN8</ a>
— 아린 (@ahreenkim) December 25, 2022
California defines a hate crime as “a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim: disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.”
The state prosecuted 285 hate crimes in 2021, according to a report from the California Department of Justice. In the 140 cases with a disposition made available for the report, 46% of cases resulted in hate crime convictions, 31% led to other kinds of conviction and 22% were not convicted.
Those convicted of a hate crime are subject to up to a year in jail and could pay a $5,000 fine.
