April 27
In yet another case of hate crime, a driver has been accused of intentionally hitting a group of pedestrians in Northern California and trying to attack people he believed were of the Muslim faith, police said.
Isaiah Joel, the accused driver, also targeted the crowd based on race, Sunnyvale, California, Police Chief Phan Ngo told reporters Friday.
Isaiah, 34, has been charged with eight counts of attempted murder for allegedly driving his vehicle into pedestrians in Sunnyvale earlier this week. If convicted, Peoples faces up to life in prison.
Chuck Smith, an attorney representing Peoples, did not enter a plea and asked the judge to postpone his client’s arraignment. He said Peoples is a religious man who is praying for the people who were injured.
“Absolutely we are disputing that this was an intentional act and this is a case of mental disorder,” he said. (With Inputs from CNN)