The UC Santa Barbara Police Department is investigating two incidents of reported hate crimes that occurred on campus and in Isla Vista Monday evening.
Two individuals reported a verbal assault from adult white male who yelled at the victims to get out of the country, police said in a community alert.
On Monday, UCPD received a report of an assault committed outside of the Student Health Service building at approximately 5:55 p.m. where a suspect yelled at a victim they don’t know to “get out of my country” and asked the victim if they had a green card.
The suspect reportedly rode his bicycle toward the victim and spit in the victim’s face. A second victim was also struck by the suspect’s spit, according to UCPD.
The suspect is described as a white adult male, 23-27 years old, approximately 5-foot-11-inches tall, with blonde hair and a beard. He was described as wearing a navy blue hat, dark colored hoodie, dark colored pants, and black Nike shoes at the time. He had a black backpack and a black beach cruiser style bicycle.
On Tuesday, UCPD received a report of a incident that occurred before the Student Health Service building assault. UCPD said they believe the two crimes to be related.
The other incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m. at the Isla Vista Theater at 960 Embarcadero del Norte. The suspect was reportedly sitting outside the theater and yelled at a victim to “Get the f— out of this country b—” and then yelled at the victim a second time saying “Hey b—, I said get the f— out of this country.”
The suspect is described as an adult white male, approximately 35 years old, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 inches tall, 140-150 pounds with blonde medium-length hair and scruffy facial hair. He was reportedly wearing dark jeans and a dark jacket at the time and was in possession of a bicycle.
UCPD asks that anyone with information about these crimes to contact the department at 805.893.3446, or report crime information anonymously at www.police.ucsb.edu/report-crime.
Individuals impacted by hate- or bias-motivated incidents can access resources here.
Additional resources are provided by the Office of Title IX Compliance and Discrimination and Harassment Prevention here.