'You brought the kung flu here': Man charged with federal hate crime following attack against Asian student

A black man in Ohio now faces federal hate crime charges after he allegedly attacked an Asian student and hurled racially-charged invectives at him.

On Wednesday, Darrin Johnson, 26, was indicted by a federal grand jury for a hate crime charge stemming from an August 2021 attack. The incident took place near the University of Cincinnati, just as students were returning to campus. At the time, Johnson supposedly yelled various ethnic slurs at the Asian American student, including "get away from me, you Asian," "go back to your country," and "you [brought] the kung flu here."

He also allegedly threatened to kill the young man, identified only as Tyler. "You're going to die for bringing it," Johnson allegedly stated.

After the verbal assault, Johnson punched the unnamed victim in the head, reports claimed. The force of the blow caused the man to fall backwards and strike his head on a car bumper. Police said that Johnson continued assaulting Tyler, who is a UC student, while he was bleeding on the ground. Tyler suffered several injuries during the attack, including facial lacerations and a concussion.

Two witnesses to the event then physically contained Johnson and waited for police to arrive, reports said.

In October 2021, Johnson pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and criminal intimidation for the incident and was sentenced to nearly a year in jail — 360 days. Johnson has since served that sentence. Johnson was arrested again on Thursday morning, following the grand jury indictment.

There are several federal officials involved in this case. U.S. attorney Kenneth Parker and FBI special agent J. William Rivers announced the charges, and assistant U.S. attorney Megan Gaffney Painter will be prosecuting the case. They believe that Johnson was motivated to attack Tyler because of his race.

Johnson faces up to 10 years in federal prison, if convicted.

Tyler spoke to reporters following the federal indictment.

"I feel really hopeful that things are going to go in the right direction," he said. "And I hope [Johnson] gets the mental treatment he needs."