Texas Woman Convicted Of Hate Crime For Assaulting Indian-Americans In 2022 Viral Video

A 59-year-old woman from Plano, Texas in the United States has been found guilty of committing a hate crime against several Asian American women during an incident in 2022, a video of which went viral on the internet.

Esmeralda Upton was convicted of three charges of misdemeanour assault and a single misdemeanour charge of terroristic threat, the Collin County District Attorney announced on Friday. The hate crime incident, which involved Upto, occurred outside the Sixty Vines Restaurant in Plano in August 2022.

“District Attorney Greg Willis announced that as a result of a joint state and federal investigation, Esmeralda Upton, 59, of Plano, pled guilty to four state Hate Crime charges related to an incident outside of the Sixty Vines Restaurant in Plano in August of 2022," the Collin County District Attorney said in a press statement.

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‘Go back to India’

Upton was accused of physically and verbally attacking four South Asian women, according to NBC. Video footage from the scene captured Upton making racist remarks and attempting to strike the women, while telling them to “go back to India." Upton pleaded guilty to all four charges and was subsequently sentenced.

She received two years of community supervision probation and was ordered to serve 40 days in confinement at the Collin County Jail for each case, with the sentences to run concurrently. Greg Willis, the Collin County district attorney, stressed the importance of safeguarding constitutional liberties against racially motivated assaults.

During the altercation, captured on video, Upton engaged in derogatory language towards the victims. At one point, when confronted about her ethnicity after being described as white, Upton stated she was Mexican American and asserted her birthright in the US. She was heard telling the women, “We don’t want you here" and suggesting they stay in their own country if conditions were favorable.

Despite the arrival of Plano Police at the scene, Upton continued with racially charged comments until she was eventually arrested on state charges, according to the news release. Anamika Chatterjee, one of the victims, expressed in a statement read before Upton’s sentencing, the lasting impact the attack had on her and her family. Chatterjee described feeling constant fear for her American-born children, who resemble Indians, due to Upton’s actions.