Two Occupy Oakland protesters have been charged with felony theft and hate crimes for allegedly stealing a woman’s wallet and yelling gay slurs at her.
The SF Weekly reports:
Occupy, you can imagine, is none too pleased with what the movement's Web site calls "false and outrageously inflated charges" and will react at their comrades' 2 p.m. court appearance today with—what else?—a protest.
Alameda County officials did not immediately respond to SF Weekly on Monday morning, but Michael Davis, 32, Nneka Crawford, 23, and Randolph Wilkins, 24, were charged in Alameda County Superior Court on Friday after their arrests Feb. 29, according to Reuters.
The trio allegedly confronted a woman after she told them not to riot in her neighborhood, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said. The Occupiers reacted with "vulgar epithets regarding their perception of her sexual orientation," and were arrested by police after the woman broke free and alerted the authorities, Watson said.