Authorities are planning to charge a local business owner with hate crime for allegedly refusing to cut her customers’ haircuts because of their ethnicity.
A man was arrested Friday for allegedly assaulting the owner of the Barber Haircuts in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Feb. 10.
The incident happened as Barber Haircut owner Amy Fischbach and her husband were on a shopping spree for men’s haircuts when the man, who was wearing a “Trump hat” and was reportedly white, began to verbally and physically harass them, authorities said.
Fischbach said that she was punched and kicked.
She said the man then pulled a knife and cut her hair.
Police said that the man was wearing the same “Trump mask” he wore when he attacked the Fischbs and assaulted the woman, who is black.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the man is a resident of Florida’s Orange County, where he is also employed by the St. Pete County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities arrested Daniel Bohn, 25, and charged him with first-degree assault.
He was released from the Palm Beach County Jail after posting a $5,000 bond.
“It is unfortunate that people are targeting our community and our business and that they are making the decision to target one person over another,” Fischbeck said in a statement.
“We are very saddened that this incident occurred and we want to make sure that our community understands how hurtful it is to be targeted by hate.”