Man Faces Hate Crime Charges After TikTok Video

Police say he berated two Asian diners at an In-N-Out burger in California
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 27, 2022 3:00 PM CST
Man Faces Hate Crime Charges After TikTok Video
   (Getty / Kuzma)

Police in California say a man confronted two Asian diners at an In-N-Out burger and a made a series of homophobic and ethnic statements that amount to hate crimes. The suspect's bad luck: The college-age diners were actually making a TikTok video at the time, reports CBS News. After Arine Kim and friend Elliot Ha posted the video—in which a man calls them "weird homosexuals" and makes derogatory statements about their ethnicity—it went viral on TikTok, and police caught wind of it. The San Ramon Police Department reached out via Twitter to the pair, and public tips subsequently led to the arrest of Jordan Douglas Krah, 40, of Denver. He was booked on two counts of committing a hate crime, per a police release.

"I personally couldn't believe it," says Ha, per ABC News. "I didn't believe it was real, it was so random." In the video, Ha is seen trying to laugh off the insults and make jokes. "It's a fear response, so you're nervous and you don't know what to do in that situation but to laugh it off," says Kim. The pair say they asked restaurant staffers to escort them to their car when they left because they saw the man watching them from outside after he left. Police also are investigating whether Krah is responsible for another anti-Asian confrontation in the nearby city of Danville. (More racism stories.)

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