Police arrested a man Friday morning on multiple charges, including a hate crime in Palo Alto, after two separate incidents in which he approached men sitting in their cars and committed crimes against them, where no one was found physically injured.
And, on Friday, March 3, at around 9:29 a.m., the Palo Alto Police Department call center received a call reporting a man brandishing a knife near the 200 block of University Avenue.
The victim, a man in his forties originally from Azerbaijan, also reported that the suspect had told him: "Go back to your country," according to a statement from the authorities.
Police arrived on the scene approximately one minute later and contacted the suspect in the 500 block of Emerson Street, who did not obey verbal commands and then fled from officers. Police were able to stop him a short distance away in Lytton Plaza and arrested him after a brief struggle. Neither the suspect nor any officers suffered physical injuries.
The investigation revealed that the victim was sitting in his parked vehicle in the 400 block of Emerson Street when the suspect parked his vehicle, a white 2017 GMC pickup, in front of him.
The suspect got out of his truck and approached the victim's car, who said he did not know him and had no previous interaction with him. The attacker began to hit the victim's driver's side window with a black object which he believed to be a knife, then yelled at her "Go back to your country", "We don't want to see you here" and "Leave our country".
At that moment, the victim started to roll down the window with the intention of asking the suspect what his problem was with him, however, the attacker spat in his face. Thus, the victim drove one block south to get away from the suspect and parked again, but the suspect followed him in his truck, that's when the victim called the police.
The police searched the suspect's truck and found "brass knuckles"? boxer? wrapped in black duct tape inside the driver's door, but no knife. The brass knuckles had the appearance of a bent razor, and police believe they were what the suspect was holding at the time he tackled the victim.
While this case was unfolding, a second victim called police to report that she had recently been approached by the same suspect while sitting in her car near the intersection of Lytton Avenue and Ramona Street.
This victim, a man in his thirties, also did not know the suspect and had had no prior interaction with him. The suspect asked him to roll down his window, accused him of following him, and asked him to get out of his car. When the victim refused, the suspect attempted to hit him through the ajar window of the car, but missed.
The suspect then reached down with his hands and broke the side view mirror of the victim's car. There was no hate crime component to this assault and vandalism.
Police booked the suspect, 35-year-old Ambrose Jamari Ochola of Walnut Creek, into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on five misdemeanor counts: hate crime, assault, resisting arrest, assault and vandalism, and one felony count of possession of illegal weapon.
Authorities said they will fully investigate any reported hate crime in Palo Alto and invited you to read a City blog post titled "Steps the community can take to help stop hate crimes."
He added that the City of Palo Alto strongly denounces hate crimes of all kinds and encouraged community members to report these incidents immediately by calling the 24-hour call center at (650) 329-2413, or 9- 1-1 if it is an emergency.
In turn, they urged anyone with information about these incidents to call the 24-hour call center at (650) 329-2413, or send tips anonymously to paloalto@tipnow.org or email text or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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