SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A San Diego man has been convicted of willful cruelty to a dependent adult and a hate crime allegation stemming from an altercation involving a disabled man at an East Village convenience store, the San Diego City Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege that last October, a man in a wheelchair was attempting to a buy a drink at the 7-Eleven on Park Boulevard.
A bystander offered to help the man and asked William Padilla, 42, to step aside so the victim could buy the drink.
The City Attorney's Office alleges that caused Padilla and the bystander to get into a physical fight that spilled outside of the store.
Padilla then came back into the store and used "disability-related slurs" toward the victim, told him, "You stupid idiot, no one cares, I could kill you," and spat at him multiple times, the City Attorney's Office said.
Padilla was convicted by a jury last week and subsequently sentenced to time served for 96 days already spent in custody, one year of summary probation, and was ordered to take an eight-hour anger management course.
"The jury got it right. No one should be targeted in this way," San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott said. "Verbally assaulting a person because of their disability is the very definition of a hate crime. There is no excuse for the egregious actions of the defendant in this case."
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