Woman Arrested for Hate Crime After Starbucks Attack: Police

A woman in Mountain View, California was arrested on May 28 after allegedly committing a hate crime at a Starbucks.

The Mountain View Police Department said in a news release at around 3:30 p.m. on May 28, officers responded to reports that a woman had allegedly attacked "a customer and directed racial epithets at a store manager at the Mountain View coffee shop."

According to police, when officers arrived they "quickly detained" Daixin Neill Quan, 33.

"In interviews with the victim and witnesses, Quan attacked a customer after she noted that the customer spoke with an accent," police said. "When the victim began recording the incident, Quan lashed out and hit the woman several times, resulting in minor facial injuries."

Police also alleged that Quan "made racially insensitive remarks to one of the Starbucks managers," told him to "'go back to your country,'" and said she would have him "deported back to Mexico." Police said the man is of Indian descent.

Police said Quan was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery and for committing a hate crime—also a misdemeanor—and that she was booked into a local jail on $10,000 bail.

According to news station KSWB, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said the alleged attack appeared to be unprovoked. "There's absolutely nothing that anyone did that provoked this woman, nothing provocative that anyone did but order a cup of coffee," he said.

In their news release, the Mountain Valley police explained why news of the arrest was not immediately released.

"While normally we would post about incidents like these when they occur, due to human error, we missed out on posting about this over the weekend," the police statement said. "We take these incidents seriously and we are taking every necessary investigative step in this case. Unfortunately, we did not notify up the chain to command staff, including to our [public information officer], in error and for that, we apologize."

A spokesperson for Starbucks told Newsweek on Friday the company "does not tolerate any form of racism or discrimination, and the safety of our customers and partners (employees) has always been and will continue to be our top priority."

"We're grateful for the quick response from first responders and our thoughts are with those affected by this incident," the spokesperson added.

Newsweek has reached out to Quan for comment.

In a separate incident in 2019, a woman in Texas said that she was assaulted at a Starbucks in Dallas, Texas, for wearing a hijab. At the time, the woman, Nur Ashour, said she was physically and verbally attacked at the coffee store.

In another case in 2021, a customer at a Starbucks store in Miami Gardens, Florida was accused of threatening a worker and pulling out a gun following a dispute over cream cheese. The man fled the scene but was later arrested by police—at the time he was facing a charge of aggravated assault.

Also last year, a video of a woman being saved from a male harasser by Starbucks employee went viral.