Man who threatened and harassed Asian Olympic athlete at park is arrested by police

A man who allegedly assaulted an Asian American couple and who was caught on video threatening and harassing a U.S. Olympian who was training at park in Orange, California, has been arrested by police, NBC Los Angeles reports.

Michael Vivona, 25, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of elder abuse and committing a hate crime in connection with an assault on a Korean American couple. The arrest also came in the wake of his April 1 encounter with 28-year-old Sakura Kokumai, who qualified for this summer’s Olympics in karate.

Kokumai shared the video of Vivona confronting her in Instagram and the video went viral, showing him yelling at her while she trained at Grijalva Park in the city of Orange.

“Go home stupid,” Vivona can be heard saying in the video. “I’ll f— you up. I’ll f— your husband up or boyfriend or whoever you’re talking to on the phone.”

During the video, the man yelled “Chinese.” Kokumai is Japanese American.

“The only two words I picked up were ‘Chinese’ and ’sashimi,’ which have no connection at all,” Kokumai told NBC Los Angeles. “Nobody likes to be yelled at by a complete stranger.”

“I want everybody to know, especially in the AAPI community, that you’re not alone,” Kokumai told NBC News. “I think it’s really important to have compassion, share love and look out for one another.”

“It makes me emotional just to think about it because at the time I did feel that I was alone.”