Video captures woman punching man who went on racist tirade at sushi restaurant on Mother's Day

Hope Schreiber
·Writer

A male customer at a Long Beach, Calif., sushi restaurant was punched in the face by a woman multiple times on Mother's Day after he went on a racist tirade directed at two black customers. The incident, and the resulting cheers from other patrons at the restaurant, was captured on video.

Ivan Velasco, a customer who filmed the scene, had taken his mother to Aburi Premium Ayce Sushi to celebrate Mother's Day when an irate man began to use racial slurs directed at customers. The man had initially been kicked out of the restaurant for yelling about the two-hour wait for a table and mistreating staff.

"It's a shouting match back and forth," Velasco told CBSLA. "And from then on, he says the racial slur that's heard in the video, which, if you were in the room, the moment he said that, everybody was like — the ball dropped. Everyone knew this was something."

While customers encouraged the men who were the victims of the racial slurs — which included being called a "monkey man" — not to engage, a woman in red then entered the frame.

Initially, it appeared that she was trying to separate the men, but when the angry customer charged at a man off-camera, the woman unleashed "five" blows to the man's face, according to Velasco.

"There's a lady who's trying to protect him [at first] — the lady who winds up hitting him. She's trying to say, 'Hey, you don't need this, you don't need this,'" Velasco told the outlet. "He charges at those two patrons. He keeps saying those slurs, and that's when she loses it; she punches him five times in the face."

The man left the restaurant and allegedly called the police. According to CBS, Long Beach police would not provide details of the incident but confirm a man and a woman were issued citations for battery.

Velasco wrote in a tweet that the hostess, who the customer had called a "dumb [b****]" for failing to seat him before the brawl, paid for the woman's meal.

He went on to share a statement from the woman, who is "extremely flattered by all the love and support" but has respectfully declined any financial support from people who wish to help with her upcoming legal troubles.

The statement provided to Velasco read: "It's disheartening to know there are still people in this world who believe they're entitled to be rude, racists, and disrespectful. In this political climate, situations like this have become more frequent. We as a society have to protect and stand up for each other. I at the time was afraid that he'd hurt other people — innocent people. No one deserves to be degraded in any way for simply existing. P.S.—My hope is that I'm still welcomed to @Aburi because it's one of my favorite sushi restaurants in Long Beach!"

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