UCLA police seek details on Mercedes convertible after alleged hate crime
The UCLA Police Department said investigators are looking into a possible anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime targeting a student near campus on Christmas Eve.
The incident happened at 6 p.m. as the student was walking in the 11000 block of Weyburn Avenue by Westwood Village.
Police said a black Mercedes convertible with four people in it pulled up next to the student. Officials said one person yelled a “homophobic slur” and another threw “wads of paper” at the pedestrian.
UCLA police did not say what the slur was, and said the investigation was ongoing.
A report from Los Angeles County’s Commission on Human Relations cites 1,350 hate crimes — an increase of 45% from the year before.
Hate crimes were up 45% last year in L.A. County, according to a county report released this month. The 1,350 hate crimes in 2023 — the highest number since the county started tallying them in 1980 — reflect an increase in crimes targeting LGBTQ+, Jewish and Black people.
In 2022, the county identified a total of 930 hate crimes. Before 2023, the highest number — 1,031 — was in 2001. That was the year of the Sept. 11 attacks, after which hate crimes increased nationally.
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