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Man Arrested On Hate Crime Charge On South Coast

A man police are describing as a vagrant has been arrested on a hate crime charge in Ventura, after investigators say he threatened someone in a store’s parking because of their race.

Ventura Police received multiple reports around six Wednesday night that Nathan Augustine was harassing people on the 4600 block of Telephone Road. Officers say Augustine then focused on a man in the parking lot, shouting racial slurs and holding a knife in his hand.

The victim walked away, but police say Augustine continued to threaten the man as he left. Police arrested Augustine on a felony hate crime charge, and for possession of a concealed weapon. No one was hurt.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.