Palo Alto police say they arrested a man on a hate crime charge Friday morning after he harassed a woman outside City Hall while shouting racial slurs.
On Friday, January 24, at approximately 7:00 a.m., an off-duty Palo Alto Police Officer was flagged down by a woman in the 600 block of Ramona Street and advised that a man was chasing her. On-duty officers responded to the area but did not locate the man.
The investigation revealed that at approximately 6:55 a.m., the victim, a woman in her 40s, was walking through the Civic Center Plaza located at 250 Hamilton Avenue. As she approached the main entrance to City Hall, a man ran toward her, aggressively blocked her path, and shouted racial slurs directed at Asian people.
Fearing for her safety, the victim fled on foot with the suspect on her back, still screaming. Once she reached the street, the suspect stopped following her.
While officers were speaking with the victim, the Palo Alto Police Department reported, the 24-hour dispatch center received a call about a man harassing customers and weaving in and out of traffic in front of the Town and Country shopping center in the 00 block of Embarcadero Road.
So, he said, officers responded to the scene, detained the man and determined he was the suspect in the Civic Center Plaza incident. No new crimes had occurred at Town and Country.
Police arrested Gavin Lamar Mour, 44, of Palo Alto, at the Santa Clara County Main Jail for malicious obstruction and a hate crime (both misdemeanors).
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