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A woman was arrested after verbally and physically assaulting a group of Indian-American women standing in a parking lot in Plano, Texas on Wednesday evening.
The unprovoked attack is being investigated as a potential hate crime.
Several video clips of the violent encounter showed the attacker shouting vitriolic statements like:
"You Indians are f'king everywhere."
The woman continued her racist tirade, saying:
"If life was so great in India, why the f'k are y'all here?"
“Go back to India. You curry-a**ed people are ruining this country.”
You can see a clip filmed by one of the four women here:
WARNING: NSFW language
\u201cThis is so scary. She actually had a gun and wanted to shoot because these Indian American women had accents while speaking English. \n\nDisgusting. This awful woman needs to be prosecuted for a hate crime.\u201d— Reema Rasool (@Reema Rasool) 1661465124
According to CBS DFW, the women were finishing up their dinner in Plano and saying goodbye to each other in their native language.
That was when they heard yelling coming from a woman who approached them and told them to go back to their country.
\u201c@reemarasool This is precisely why I never wanted to go to the US, ever.\n\nAmericans can have their country, build a wall, good luck to them! \ud83d\ude00\u201d— Reema Rasool (@Reema Rasool) 1661465124
Police identified the attacker as Esmeralda Upton.
Things escalated when Upton hit one of the women recording her.
At one point, while one of the women called 911, Upton told them she was Mexican-American and then proceeded to hit another person in the group who was also filming her.
Upton yelled:
"I was born here. I paid my f'king way here."
\u201c@reemarasool Sorry to watch the ordeal endured by these ladies. US is a nation of immigrants -- some recent and some not so recent. To see this kind of open bigotry is shocking and sad!\n\nOne must be thankful for technology (i.e. smartphones) for the ability to provide such proof.\u201d— Reema Rasool (@Reema Rasool) 1661465124
In response, the women asked:
"What makes you think that we are not American."
To which Upton responded:
"Because of the way you speak, because I'm a Mexican American and I speak English."
\u201c@reemarasool Must have been such an unpleasant experience. It was quite disturbing to even watch. Doesn't matter where you are - no one should be treated this way. Hugs to you.\u201d— Reema Rasool (@Reema Rasool) 1661465124
Upton suddenly attempted to apologize for her behavior but then just as quickly attacked their appearance when the women kept recording.
She demanded the ladies "turn the f'ng cameras off" and threatened to kill them.
"Turn that goddamn phone off, or I swear to god I'll f'king shoot your a**."
You can watch the news report from CBS DFW, here.
Fortunately the police arrived within minutes and detained Upton after she refused to take a breathalyzer test.
\u201c@reemarasool https://t.co/XwHRosbpFJ\u201d— Reema Rasool (@Reema Rasool) 1661465124
\u201c@reemarasool This is crazy. Good that the culprit arrested and hopefully will be prosecuted under American laws.\u201d— Reema Rasool (@Reema Rasool) 1661465124
\u201c@reemarasool The positive and quick reaction of the police department also needs to be complimented; https://t.co/4W5cXn52PL\u201d— Reema Rasool (@Reema Rasool) 1661465124
On Thursday, the Plano Police Department arrested Upton on charges of bodily assault and making terroristic threats.
According to police spokesperson Andrae Smith, Upton was released on a $10,000 bond.
"Our entire sense of safety was shattered in this incident," said one of the women.
Rani Banerjee, who experienced the attack with her friends, posted a video she filmed on Facebook.
She recounted the racially-motivated encounter in the caption which read:
"Dinner with friends ended with a frightening experience."
"As we left Sixty Vines, Plano and headed towards our cars, an angry, drunk woman came at us with hateful racial slurs and even physically attacked us."
"We called 911 and thankfully the cops arrived in minutes."
Banerjee said after having lived in the Dallas Fort Worth area for 29 years, she never felt so "humiliated, threatened, and scared for my life."
She continued:
"Can’t believe this is what America has become."