Video above: KTLA coverage of Tackett’s arrest, which aired July 27.
A man from Irvine has been charged with hate crimes in two separate attacks on Hispanic men that occurred on the same day.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office stated Wednesday that Robert Tackett was charged with felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, violation of civil rights, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and inflicting injury on an elder adult. Tackett has also been identified by police as Leon Tackett.
The charges stem from two incidents that transpired on July 22, one around 9:30 a.m. and the other around 5:30 p.m., the first of which occurred on Sand Canyon Avenue in Irvine.
In that incident, Tackett, 54, was witnessed having what prosecutors called “a negative interaction” with a garbage truck driver. Another motorist began filming Tackett, who became enraged and began chasing the motorist.
“Tackett is accused of following [the motorist] in his work van and yelling anti-Hispanic racial slurs as he pulled up next to the victim and tried to run him off the road,” the district attorney’s office said. “He is also accused of trying to slam into the other driver’s vehicle, forcing the victim to slam on his brakes twice to avoid a collision.”
“After two failed attempts to crash into the victim, Tackett is accused of throwing a hot cup of coffee into the victim’s vehicle, dousing the victim with hot coffee,” the DA’s office continued.
While the victim did not immediately call police, officials were able to identify him based on the footage, which he had uploaded to social media.
It is alleged that around eight hours later, Tackett, still in his work van, was stopped at a red light in Westminster when he got out and began repeatedly punching a 72-year-old man through the open window of his pickup truck. While beating the man, who attempted to block the attack, Tackett is accused of yelling profanity and anti-Hispanic slurs.
Similar to what had happened earlier that morning, a person driving by stopped and recorded this incident as well, officials said. This person did contact the Irvine Police Department after the footage of the first attack was posted on social media, and Tackett was later arrested on July 24 by California Highway Patrol officers in Mammoth.
He is being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of eight years in state prison.
Speaking on the hateful nature of the attacks, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer remarked that the two victims who were physically involved aren’t the only ones affected by the attacks.
“Hate is a venom that poisons everything – and everyone – it touches. An attack motivated by hate is not an attack on just a single individual; it is an attack on the very fabric of our society and our community as a whole,” Spitzer said. “Every member of our society deserves to go about their days unafraid that they would be targeted because of the color of their skin, their gender, or their sexual orientation.”
The post Southern California man charged with hate crimes for separate attacks on Hispanic men appeared first on KTLA.
