Santa Cruz Man Charged With Federal Hate Crime

SANTA CRUZ, CA — A Santa Cruz man has been charged with a federal hate crime for attempting to stab a black man and yelling racial slurs at him, prosecutors said.

Ole Hougen, 44, confronted a 29-year-old black man crossing the street in Santa Cruz and wielded a nine-inch knife, slashing at his head, chest and stomach, according to police and a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The attack occurred near San Lorenzo Boulevard and Broadway Street on a July evening, police said at the time of his arrest. Officers began to take him into custody and Hougen said he wanted a "white person to help" arrest him, police said.

Hougen continued to direct racial epithets toward officers and jail staff as they booked him into jail, police said.

This is the fourth time Hougen has been accused of racially motivated assaults. At the time of the attack on the Santa Cruz streets, he was out on probation for state convictions involving a 2018 assault on a different black man, prosecutors said. Hougen was accused of committing two other such assaults in 2018 and 2014.

Read: Knife-Wielding Man Screamed Slurs At Black Man, Police Say