Ashli Babbitt’s Brother Charged In Hate Crime Assault

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports:

A man facing battery and hate-crime charges for allegedly attacking and hurling racial slurs at a utility worker last year near Ocean Beach is the brother of Ashli Babbitt, the San Diego woman who was shot and killed by a police officer Jan. 6, 2021, inside the U.S. Capitol.

Roger Stefan Witthoeft, Jr., 33, was arraigned March 1 on misdemeanor charges of battery with a hate crime enhancement and violating the victim’s constitutional rights by threat of force, according to the San Diego City Attorney’s Office. He pleaded not guilty in San Diego Superior Court.

Witthoeft is accused of shoving and trying to punch a San Diego Gas & Electric traffic controller last September while shouting “a number of racial slurs” at the victim, who is Latino, and telling him to “Go back to your country you (expletive) immigrant,” according to the City Attorney’s Office.

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