Fremont man tells police ethnicity was motive behind assault on woman

Police in Fremont on Thursday arrested a man in connection with a hate crime related to an assault of a woman.

Trevor Dicks, 29, of Fremont, was arrested on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon, committing a hate crime, violation of probation and battery, police said.

The arrest on suspicion of battery stemmed from an additional assault that occurred earlier in the day on another woman.

Officers with the Fremont Police Department responded Thursday at 10 a.m. to a report of an assault that had occurred in the 42200 block of Fremont Boulevard.

Police said the suspect was in a business when he hit a female customer in the face and then walked away.

Responding officers learned the suspect, later identified as Dicks, assaulted the victim twice, once with a rock and once with his hand. Witnesses in the area were able to tell police where the suspect fled following the incident, and he was detained.

When questioned by officers, Dicks said the victim’s ethnicity was the motive for the attack, police said.

Police later learned Dicks had also assaulted a female employee at another business in the area earlier Thursday.