‘It was terrible’: Asian woman spit on at stop light in Oakland speaks out

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — In the East Bay, a man could be heard spitting in the face of a pregnant woman at a red light.

Video shows the man walking on the street near Broadway and 14^th in downtown Oakland.

The woman and her husband are both Asian and believe the act was racially motivated. She does not want to show her face, but wants to share what happened to encourage others to speak out.

The Oakland couple was just driving to work.

You can hear Tina, who was sitting in the passenger seat telling her husband not to get out of the car after she says a man spit at her, walks away, then returns.

“He was just circling our car trying to talk to my husband to get out but being pregnant, I didn’t want to put us and my baby at risk,” Tina said.

Tina is about 7 months pregnant. After checking in with her doctors, she got a COVID test right away.

“It was terrible. I had a meltdown at work,” she said. “Right when I got to work I washed my face, I did an eye wash, I made sure nothing was on me and then I spoke to my providers, you know I had a mini melt down.”

The incident caught on dash cam video happened Friday around 8:25 a.m.

The husband and wife just dropped off a relative to work when they pulled up to a red light on 14th Street and Broadway in downtown Oakland.

The couple believes this act was racially motivated.

“After he was yelling at us and shouting at us and that’s when I felt like this was because we were Asian and because our windows were down it was a perfect time to target us,” Tina said.

Tina and her husband are healthcare workers and treat victims in the Asian community.

“I work in Oakland, downtown Chinatown and I see grandmas and grandpas every day coming in you know to our clinic because of the same reasons,” she said.

“Now is the perfect time to stand up for ourselves we have to advocate for ourselves so I hope this helps others to do the same.”

Tina reported this incident to the Oakland Police Department and plans to also report this to other organizations that track incidents within the Asian American community.