San Jose Coffee Shop Owner Beaten with Metal Torch by Repeat Offender
Jasmine Rast, owner of Roy's Station Coffee and Tea in Japantown, was attacked with a metal torch after confronting a trespasser on her property.
Coffee Shop Owner Beaten with Metal Torch in San Jose Japantown
The owner of a family-run coffee shop in San Jose's Japantown was beaten with a metal torch by a man who rode an e-bike onto her property early Tuesday morning, NY Post Metro reports.
Jasmine Rast, who operates Roy's Station Coffee and Tea on Jackson Street, arrived at the business around 5:30 a.m. and was unloading her car when she spotted the man riding through the driveway. Because the property had experienced repeated vandalism issues, she told him he was on private property.
The man responded by charging at her. "He just ran at me," Rast told NBC Bay Area. She initially assumed he was trying to scare her, but he caught up and struck her multiple times with the torch.
"The first hit I felt was on the back of my head, and then after that, I just started swinging my arms. I had my metal water bottle. I'm like, I'm just gonna start going at it," Rast said.
Surveillance footage from Roy's Station, obtained by NBC Bay Area, shows the man chasing Rast through the driveway. Her screams brought her brother and father rushing out. The family contacted police, who took the suspect into custody and booked him into jail.
Rast's family told the news outlet that Roy's Station has served the community for generations and that her father was himself violently assaulted in Japantown several years ago. They also said police informed them that the man arrested Tuesday had already been arrested ten days earlier and subsequently released.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan's office confirmed he is in contact with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office regarding the case. In a statement to NBC Bay Area, Mahan said there is "a real human cost when we allow repeat offenders to cycle in and out of jail without meaningful intervention."
Mahan also called on state and county leaders to fully implement Proposition 36, arguing that repeat offenders should face real consequences — "for some, that's treatment. And for others, that's time behind bars."
Source: NY Post Metro