A Diamond Bar man has recently pled guilty to a federal civil rights charge for driving his car into a crowd of demonstrators at a "Stop Asian Hate" rally back in March 2021. The man, Steve Lee Dominguez, 57, disrupted the rally by running a red light, driving into a crowd, and shouting racial slurs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.
Even after the incident occurred in March 2021, the trial continued into this year, with Dominguez entering a guilty plea on his third day. He had disrupted the rally, which was not only to raise awareness about the increase in hate crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, but also in response to the murders of six Asian American women in Atlanta five days prior.
In a study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino found hate crimes targeting Asians in the 16 largest U.S. cities increased by 150% in 2021.
Based on his plea agreement, Dominguez faces up to one year in prison, cites the U.S. Attorney's Office.
