Arine Kim and Elliot Ha, two college students home in the Bay Area for the holidays, had been catching up at In-N-Out on Christmas Eve when a man approached them unprovoked with a “homophobic and racist rant," authorities said.
A man was arrested after a TikTok video went viral allegedly showing him approaching two Asian American college students at an In-N-Out location unprovoked, spewing a “homophobic and racist rant,” authorities said.
Jordan Douglas Krah, 40, of Denver, Colorado, is being held at the Martinez Detention Facility on two counts of committing a hate crime, according to the San Ramon Police Department.
“The San Ramon Police Department strives to ensure everyone in our community feels safe and welcome,” authorities said in a statement. “We will continue to take swift and diligent legal action against acts of hate to help create an inclusive place for all to live, work and visit.”
Arine Kim, a student at UCLA, and Elliot Ha, a student at Duke University, had been home in the Bay Area for winter break and met up at an In-N-Out location in the Bay Area on Christmas Eve to film a TikTok video.
The pair could be seen in the now-viral video sharing food and cracking jokes when, off camera, a male voice approaches them unprompted and begins asking questions.
“Are you guys filming yourselves eating?,” he could be heard saying. When Ha responded yes, he then says, “You’re weird homosexuals.”
The man then asks, “Are you Japanese or Korean?," and when Ha tells him they are the latter, the customer responds, “Yeah, you’re Korean, that’s what I thought. You’re Kim Jong-Un’s boyfriend, huh? Normally, I could spit in your face, that’s some Filipino s***.”
Ha and Kim went from shocked to uncomfortable, before the man suddenly tells them, “See you outside in a minute.”
They continue to film the encounter, and said that for about 15 more minutes, the man stood outside the window of the restaurant, staring them down.
"Elliot and I were shaking and stuttering towards the end of it," Kim told CBS Bay Area.
Ha added, "We made sure to ask the workers, could you guys walk us to our cars, we need to make sure that he's not still around. And the workers were just super helpful,” according to the outlet.
The pair posted an edited version of the encounter on TikTok, and days later, following an investigation by police and citizen sleuths on social media, Chief Denton Carlson said they tracked down the man in the video and arrested him “for violating California’s Hate Crime Laws.”
There was a stunning 177.5% increase in reported hate crimes against Asian Americans in 2021 from 2020, and a 32.6% overall increase in reported hate crimes according to the California Department of Justice.
“In fact, reported hate crime has reached a level we haven’t seen in California since the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a June press release. “While there is no single solution, it’s up to all of us to heed the call, because when our communities feel empowered, they come forward. Now, more than ever, it is critical that we stand united — there is no place for hate in California.”
