VIDEO: Woman accused of attacking Muslims praying at San Francisco park

ByReggie Aqui KGO logo
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Woman accused of attacking Muslims praying at East Bay park
A woman who allegedly attacked a group of Muslim men praying at Lake Chabot Regional Park in the East Bay may face misdemeanor battery or a hate crime.

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. -- A group of Muslim men say they were attacked at a park in San Francisco and the confrontation was caught on camera.

The man who recorded the incident at Lake Chabot Regional Park in the East Bay on Sunday said the woman asked his friends if they believed in Jesus.

When they answered that they respect Jesus, he said she became extremely disrespectful.

In the video you can hear the woman say, "Your mind has been taken over, brainwashed. And you have nothing but hate, nothing but hate."

The woman yelling at a group of Muslim men about hate could now face a hate crime charge herself.

"I was shocked," said Rasheed Albeshari, who took the video. "I wasn't expecting that, specifically in the Bay Area."

A park ranger tried to intervene and then things got physical.

In the video you hear a man say, "This lady was talking about my God, she was saying he was..."

At that point, the woman came up and apparently hit the man, jostling the camera as he yelled, "Do not touch me!"

The man behind the camera said he got coffee in his face and got hit by the woman's umbrella.

"We are now forwarding the report to the district attorney's office to decide whether to go proceed with misdemeanor battery or a hate crime," said Carolyn Jones with the East Bay Regional Park District.

Denise Slader, who works for the California Department of Corrections, is the woman identified in the video. She told police she is the real victim because she was videotaped against her will.

When ABC7 sister station KGO-TV attempted to talk to Slader, she didn't answer her door.

No apology from her tonight, but the man recording the video says he's received many condolences from others in the community.

Albeshari explained he's been apologized to by many in the community he said actions like Slader are in the minority of Americans.

KGO-TV also reports the woman is facing an investigation from her employer.