Agents of the San Francisco Police Department from the Tenderloin Station arrested Joseph Benjamin, a man involved in hate crimes on the city's Public Transportation System, better known as Muni.
At approximately 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 16, an incident occurred on a MUNI bus in the area of Divisadero Street and Geary Boulevard, in which an unknown male suspect uttered racially charged language to an Asian female passenger on the bus. .
At this, an unknown bystander intervened and told the suspect to stop, but the assailant directed his attention to the suspect and threw an egg that crashed on top of him. The suspect then got off the bus, threw at least one more egg at the bus, and fled the scene on foot.
The incident was not immediately reported to authorities, however, San Francisco police have opened an investigation into the incident, which is being led by the Bureau of Investigations.
Throughout the investigation, a suspect was identified and believed to be involved in at least two other recent incidents, including one on February 13, when at approximately 10:17 a.m., San Francisco police officers Francisco of the Northern Station responded to the area of O'Farrell Street and Van Ness Avenue regarding a report of assault on a MUNI driver.
Officers arrived on scene and met with the victim, an Asian man, who said a passenger informed him that another passenger spat at someone and was using threatening language. The victim told the suspect to get off the bus, and the suspect used hate language and spat at the victim before fleeing the scene.
Meanwhile, on February 23, investigators contacted a victim who believed she had an encounter with the same suspect after seeing him in a video on social media. The victim, an Asian female, told investigators that she was on a MUNI bus on December 25, 2022 when the suspect made derogatory comments about her ethnicity and gender and threw food at her.
In light of this, on April 14, San Francisco police officers from the Tenderloin Station were patrolling the area of the 500 block of Jones Street when they recognized the suspect named in the bulletin issued after the incidents.
Thus, officers arrested 44-year-old Joseph Benjamin, who was booked into the San Francisco County Jail on two counts of assault committed against a transportation worker or passenger and two counts of hate crimes.
Although one arrest has been made, the investigation remains open, authorities said, so anyone with information on these cases is asked to contact the San Francisco Police Department's 24-hour tip line. at 1-415-575-4444, or text TIP411 and start the message with SFPD.
Those who choose to provide information may remain anonymous.
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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