A woman in Plano, Texas, has been convicted on charges of hate crime in connection to a 2022 incident in which several Asian American women were physically and verbally attacked.
Esmeralda Upton, 59, was convicted on Friday of three misdemeanor assault charges and one misdemeanor charge of terroristic threat, the Collin County District Attorney announced. Each of the charges includes a state hate crime enhancement, alleging that Upton chose the victims based on her bias and prejudice against their race and national origin, a news release said.
It comes after Upton was accused of attacking four South Asian women outside a restaurant two years ago. During the altercation, she made racist comments, attempted to hit the women, told them to “go back to India,” video of the incident showed.
Upton, who pleaded guilty to the four charges, was sentenced to two years of community supervision probation and 40 days confinement in the Collin County Jail for each of the cases, served concurrently.
“As Americans, we should all be able to enjoy our constitutional liberties, free and secure from this type of racially motivated assault,” said Greg Willis, Collin County district attorney.
Upton’s attorney, J. Joseph Mongaras Jr., did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
The incident took place in August 2022 in the parking lot of the Sixty Vines Restaurant, where Upton physically assaulted three of the women and threatened a fourth, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
At one point, when one of the victims described Upton as white, she said she is Mexican American.
“I was born here,” Upton says in the video.
At an earlier point, Upton tells the women, “We don’t want you here.”
“If things were so great in your country, then stay there,” Upton says in the video, captured by one of the victims.
Upton appears to walk away at another point, but returns and begins to lunge at the victims, visibly knocking the phone that’s recording the video.
When one of the victims attempts to explain that she is a naturalized citizen, Upton responds by saying, “You’re a naturalized citizen. You’re not a born and raised citizen.”
“Even after Plano Police arrived on the scene, Upton continued her racially charged comments and was eventually arrested on state charges,” the news release said.
Anamika Chatterjee, one of the victims, read a statement prior to Upton’s sentencing, describing the deep impact the attack had on her and her family.
“My American-born children look like Indians. Because of your hatred and attack, I am now constantly scared for them,” Chatterjee said. “That’s the worst effect of what you did to me—that constant worry and anxiety. It continues to astonish me that a person with a minority background like yourself—which you bragged about during the incident—would behave like this, without a trace of shame.”
There is still a pending civil suit against Upton, filed by the victims.
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