Download
Man charged with hate crime for 2021 attack
Jesse Allen Lindsey has been charged with a hate crime for an attack on an Asian American woman in Culver City in 2021.
Fox – LA
A federal judge sentenced a repeat felon to four years and three months in prison Tuesday for a seemingly random, racially motivated attack on an Asian American woman in Culver City three years ago.
Jesse Allen Lindsey, 38, who was described as transient with a last known address in Fontana at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty in December to one count of committing a hate crime, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The attack, which was captured on surveillance camera video, took place about 1 a.m. on June 14 along Washington Boulevard, near Redwood Avenue.
Lindsey began following the woman as she walked to work, DOJ representatives said in a written statement.
“Lindsey shouted racial slurs, cursed at the victim, and told her, ‘You don’t belong here,'” according to the statement. “He then violently punched her in the head. While the victim lay face down in the street, defendant shouted, “You hear what I said, (expletive)? I said good morning, (expletive)!”
The attacker then fled, leaving the victim lying bloody in the street.
Officials said the injured woman was unable to work for a week and has dealt with psychological trauma stemming from the assault for years.
Lindsey fled California after seeing news coverage of the brutal attack, prosecutors said. But he ultimately returned and was found after ending up in prison due to an unrelated charge. He was taken into federal custody in July of 2024.
Upon sentencing Lindsey, United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald noted the “shocking and horrible” nature of the crime, along with Lindsey’s “serious criminal record,” the DOJ statement said.
Lindsey had 13 prior criminal convictions for crimes including firearm and narcotics offenses, domestic battery, grand theft, and attempted extortion, prosecutors said.
He also has at least 14 prior probation or pretrial release violations on record, officials added.
Even after admitting to the attack, Lindsey showed no remorse, prosecutors said.
“Lindsey said the ‘little Asian person’ was ‘mouthy’ and looked like a ‘gangbanger,” the DOJ statement said. He also tried to claim the assault was self-defense, telling investigators the victim might “pull ‘some Jet Li (expletive).”
The victim stood five feet tall and weighed 120 pounds, compared with the 6-foot-tall, 250-pound attacker.
Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Akil Davis said upon Lindsey’s conviction that the crime was “shocking to the conscience.”
“Mr. Lindsey’s actions were heinous, despicable, and inhumane,” he said. “Violating the civil rights of others by engaging in racial violence is antithetical to our values as Americans.”
The FBI investigated the case alongside the Culver City Police Department.