SAN FRANCISCO—On Tuesday, June 17, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced that Juan Diaz-Rivas, 36, was charged in connection to an antisemitic group beating hate crime in the Marina District on June 14.
Diaz-Rivas was scheduled to be arraigned on June 18. He is currently in custody. The District Attorney’s Office moved to have Diaz-Rivas detained pending trial because of the public safety risk he poses.
He is charged with two counts of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury (PC 245(a)(4)). The criminal complaint includes an allegation on one assault count that he personally inflicted great bodily injury on one of the victims (PC 12022.7(a)) and that this assault was a hate crime (PC 422.75(a)).
According to court documents, on June 14, the victim and a friend were sitting on a sidewalk on the 3100 block of Fillmore Street when a group of about six people were walking saying “F*** the Jews, Free Palestine.”
The victim’s friend heard them and asked them to stop and told them she was Jewish. Diaz-Rivas allegedly got in her face at which point the victim, and his friend started to walk away. The group came after them, and one of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness.
Allegedly the defendant and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.
The San Francisco Police Department is still investigating the case. Anyone with information on the incident should contact the Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
