PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A woman has been charged with a hate crime and assault after she allegedly yelled racial slurs and shoved a teen at a Puyallup park last week.
According to court documents, Jennifer Vincent first called police on Oct. 25 to report that she had been pushed by a teen at Pioneer Park.
When an officer arrived, they contacted a group of teens who told police that Vincent had been walking around the park "shouting racial and derogatory statements to him and other Hispanic people." The teen described by Vincent in the call to police told officers that Vincent first had gone over to a family taking pictures for their young daughter's quinceañera and "told them to go back to their country," according to court documents.
That same teen said Vincent eventually walked over to the group he was with and got in his face, "told him to go back to where he came from and he's not allowed in this country," court documents said. The teen said Vincent then shoved him, and he responded by shoving her back, he told police.
Multiple other witnesses spoke to police and backed up the teen's version of events, with others telling officers that the woman had called the teen she pushed two different racial slurs. Meanwhile, the woman was uncooperative with police and repeatedly asked for medical attention, despite being seen walking around the park normally after police arrived.
Officers determined they had probable cause to arrest the woman for malicious harassment and the assault on the teen, according to court documents. The woman resisted multiple officers, court documents say, even at one point attempting to pinch one of the arresting officers' legs.
The woman was later transported to a hospital and cleared for booking into Pierce County Jail. On Monday, Vincent was charged with malicious harassment with a hate crime designation, assault in the fourth degree and resisting arrest.
Vincent made her first appearance in court Monday and is next due back in front of a judge on Nov. 25.
