NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
On August 24, 2022, four Indian American women enjoying a night out in Plano, Texas, were subjected to a racist attack by a complete stranger named Esmeralda Upton. The incident took place in the parking lot of Sixty Vines, a popular local restaurant and wine bar. Now, a county court has sentenced 59-year-old Upton, to 40 days in jail.
Upton had approached them and shouted, “I hate you fucking Indians. We don’t want you here.” She also called them “curry ass bitches” and continued to hurl insults. Upton then assaulted three of the women and threatened to shoot them.
The women tried to get Upton to leave them alone, but she yelled, “Go back to India… If things are so great in your country, then stay there!”
One friend started recording on her cell phone and another called 911. At this point, Upton physically assaulted three of the victims and threatened the fourth.
Anamika Chatterjee, one of the victims, had then shared on social media, “Four friends who were spending a nice evening in a free democratic country with rule of law were verbally abused using racial slurs and thereafter, threatened and body shamed by a complete stranger.”
Another victim added, “We feared for our lives because she was extremely agitated and seemed totally out of control. We called cops who came in time and diffused the situation.”
Now, nearly two years later, Upton has been sentenced to 40 days in the Collin County jail. She pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and one count of making terroristic threats, with hate-crime specifications under Texas law. Upton will serve her sentence on weekends starting July 19. The judge warned that if she fails to appear, she will serve her time consecutively. This sentence was part of a plea deal between the Collin County District Attorney’s Office and Upton’s counsel.
The video of the attack had sent shockwaves across the United States two years ago.
“A lot of people are asking what triggered this behavior,” one victim said. “The answer is ‘nothing’. We were talking amongst ourselves when she walked by and made a racially insinuating comment. And kept coming back to add additional insults as captured in the video.”
