Man Arrested on Suspicion of Hate Crime Attack in Westminster
A 32-year-old Westminster man suspected of a hate-crime sexual assault in a Westminster store was arrested Friday..
Aaron Aubrey Navies was booked on suspicion of hate crime and sexual battery, according to police.
Officers were dispatched about 7:40 a.m. Friday to the store in the 13500 block of Beach Boulevard, near the Garden Grove (22) Freeway, police said.
The woman said she was in an aisle shopping for laundry items when the suspect grabbed her by the buttocks, police alleged.
The woman hurled an item at him and backed away with Navies allegedly saying, "You don't have rights because you're Mexican and I can do what I want to," police said.
When the woman responded in disgust in Spanish, Navies allegedly stuck his tongue out in a way that was perceived by the victim to be sexual, police said.
The woman immediately called police and Navies was arrested in the store, police said.
