Save Our Seniors Network’s David Monkawa (Photo: George Toshio Johnston)
History professor hit by vehicle as driver shouted slurs endures pain to speak to community, media.
By George Toshio Johnston, P.C. Senior Editor
With a black-and-white keffiyeh draped over a pistachio green button-down oxford dress shirt and exhibiting a discolored, egg-sized bruise to his left cheek, 71-year-old Aki Maehara walked slowly but purposefully to a microphone-laden lectern.
Speaking at a May 22 news conference at the Pico House in downtown Los Angeles a little more than three weeks after relaying that he had been intentionally rammed by a motor vehicle driven by a slur-spewing hit-and-run perpetrator, the East Los Angeles College history professor delivered a deliberate account of what he had experienced in his hometown of Montebello, Calif., after 10 p.m. on the evening of April 29 while riding home on his electric bike.
Aki Maehara (Photo: George Toshio Johnston)
Maehara’s swollen check was one of the visible injuries he sustained. The other injuries — to his neck, teeth, chest, ankle, thigh, lower back and hips, and to his left elbow (requiring more than 10 sutures), not to mention bruises, scrape wounds, a concussion and dizzy spells over the first four or five days afterward — initially put him in the Long Beach VA hospital for a day.
The former Marine who served during the Vietnam War nevertheless mustered his do-or-die spirit to endure his continuing pain and report to the community and the media what he had experienced.
After finishing teaching a class and leaving the ELAC campus, Maehara said he was a just a few blocks from his home on his e-bike when the incident took place around 10:13 p.m. “I noticed there were headlights behind me by the reflection in front of me, and I turned my body and my head to the rear to check the location of the approaching vehicle, as I always do for safety reasons,” he said.
“Thats when I saw the silhouette of what looked like a four-door, midsized sedan coming right at me. . . . I immediately tried to turn my bike toward the curb, hoping I could find the driveway or hop up the curb to get out of the way. As I began to turn, I heard somebody yell out, ‘F*****g Chink,’ and then I got hit.
“When I got hit, it sent me flying. I ended up face-planting on concrete several times and rolling about 30 feet, 35 feet until I was stopped by a row of bricks, facedown. As I lay there face down with my head pounding in pain, I heard someone yell out, ‘Go back to Chinkland.’”
The racist slurs directed at him made Maehara think the attacker may have known and targeted him because the life-saving helmet and visor he had been wearing completely obscured his facial features.
Maehara alluded to making an initial report to the Montebello Police Department when two officers came to his home after he was released from the hospital. He said he later spoke over the phone to an MPD detective, from whom Maehara learned that the initial police report excluded “information I provided on a possible suspect, possible motive, two prior police reports on the suspect.” It was a reference to published reports that Maehara gave police a lead on someone who had harassed him in the past about his classes on the history of racism in the U.S.
“This was very disturbing. It does not give me faith in an objective, thorough process of investigation,” Maehara told the audience. In a follow-up visit by two MPD detectives, however, Maehara said the two received all the omitted details and that when a report is finalized, “I’m supposed to be given a copy, which will be reviewed and examined, and decisions about how to proceed from there will take place then.”
According to the “2023 Hate Crime in California” report issued by the California Department of Justice in 2024, there were 664 hate crimes in 2023 in Los Angeles County, with three events taking place in the city of Montebello, Calif. (see composite graphic).
In response to a query from Pacific Citizen, the city of Montebello shared a news release. In reference to the description of the individual Maehara said he gave to the MPD, the news release stated: “The description of the suspect provided by the victim is of a male, Caucasian, with blue eyes and sandy blonde (sic) hair. No further details of the suspect were provided.”
Regarding the MPD’s ongoing investigation into the incident, the news release also stated: “At this time, a suspect has not been identified.”
Following the vehicular assault, a GoFundMe account was set up to help pay for the ongoing costs for Maehara’s care, including getting dental implants that insurance doesn’t cover. The link is at tinyurl.com/2t7n3mnj.
Maehara indicated that once the expenses for the additional care had been addressed, he would consider shifting the campaign to redirect the funds toward “other victims of Asian hate violence . . . in need of support.”
In his closing remarks, Maehara expressed his thanks for the “continued support provided me from all over the nation and internationally.”
Several speakers representing various community organizations spoke after Maehara. They included Greater Los Angeles JACL Chapter President Mitchell Matsumura; Save Our Seniors Network’s David Monkawa; Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California CEO Connie Chung Joe; Asian American Civil Rights League Co-Founders Gerald Ohn and Christina Ku; Alliance for Asian American Justice’s Brian Sun; Chinatown Community for Equitable Development’s King Chung; and Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations Executive Director Robin S. Toma. Also included was a short address by a 2023 victim of an anti-Asian assault on a Metro train who wished to remain anonymous.
Serving as the news conference’s facilitator was Matsumura, who also recognized several notable guests in attendance, including Chinese American Museum Executive Director Michael Truong; District Representative Kyle Miller, representing Sen. Bob Archuleta (D–30th District); Field Representative/Caseworker Gigi Lee, representing Rep. Judy Chu (D–Calif.); Field Representative Jayson Hugh, representing California Assemblymember Mike Fong (D-Calif.); Faith and Community Empowerment founder Hyepin Im; Asian American Community Media Project’s Don Bannai; Nikkei Progressives’ Mark Masaoka, the Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis; Monterey Park City Council Member Henry Lo (District 4); and Center for the Prevention of Hate and Bullying Director Osman Khan.
