Tuvorius Mencer, 34, and Terrell Antonio Plaines, 31, have been arrested by police officers from Ontario, San Bernardino County, California, United States. Both men are from Hemet, San Jacinto Valley, Riverside County, California.

On April 4, 2021, Mencer and Plaines were inside a Levi’s Outlet store in the Ontario Mills, the largest shopping mall and outlet mall in San Bernardino County. At around 5:15 p.m. that day, the two men allegedly punched an Asian couple multiple times after having an argument with them over physical distancing inside the store.

“I was walking down the corridor and then I noticed there was a disturbance about 50 feet in front of me and as I looked up, I noticed there were two black gentlemen striking an Asian female where she landed on the ground and I saw her holding the left side of her face,” eyewitness Louis Navarro told FOX 11. “At that moment, I noticed there was an innocent bystander that was attempting to render aid to her, he then became assaulted and fell on the ground where they attacked him.”

The Asian couple suffered injuries from the attack. Mencer and Plaines are also accused of attacking two other people who tried to stop the assault.

Moreover, Mencer assaulted an Ontario Police Department officer at the scene. He was arrested and charged with felony assault, assault on a peace officer and violation of civil rights.

 

Plaines was able to flee the scene. But on April 6, 2021, he was arrested at his house on Calathea in Hemet and was charged with felony assault and violation of civil rights.

It is likely that Mencer and Plaines will face additional charges of civil rights violations for committing a suspected hate crime, according to ABC 7. The names of their victims have yet to be released.

This is not Plaines’ first time in jail. Hemet Police Department officers arrested him in Hemet for felony fugitive from justice on September 15, 2020 and he was released from Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, California on October 7, 2020.