Hobo Jonathan Michael Schmidt got a little jail and a little probation today for shouting
from his bicycle “Fucking Mexican, go back to Mexico!” at a Latina motorist and spitting in her face as she waited at a stop sign near Main Street in Huntington Beach before trying to run her over with his bike once she exited the vehicle. Over the objections of the prosecution, the 31-year-old was allowed by the judge to plead guilty to three misdemeanor counts
of hate crime battery in exchange for 180 days in jail and three years probation.
]
Senior Deputy District Attorney John Christl argued that the counts should remain felony hate crime battery and hate crime assault and that Schmidt should face the maximum sentence of five years and four months in state prison due to the severity of the crimes and his past record, which includes a 2003 conviction for false imprisonment.
Around 1:40 p.m. Oct. 4, the 36-year-old woman stopped at a stop sign
while driving her sister to a chocolate shop. That's when Schmidt, a complete stranger, rode up on a bicycle, approached the open driver's side
window and, without provocation, yelled the profanities and racial slurs and
spit on the woman's face.
She drove away and reached her
destination. But as she and her sister were getting out of the car, Schmidt rode up, unleashed more venom and spit on the woman's
back before darting off. Moments later, as if out of nowhere, the hater on wheels appeared riding his bike directly at the woman, who had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Police were called and Schmidt was quickly arrested.
Previous coverage:
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.