A woman dubbed “Torrance Karen,” who was caught on video going on racist rants in June, will not be charged with any crime related to those incidents, the Torrance City Attorney’s Office said Thursday. She will, however, be charged with battery for an incident dating back to 2019.
Lena Hernandez was identified by Torrance police after a video of her telling an Asian American woman exercising at Wilson Park to "go back to whatever ... Asian country she belongs in” went viral. In a second video, a Torrance father who is also Asian American recorded the woman while she berated him in front of his 11-year-old son, who sat in the car.
Due to “critical gaps in the evidence,” the Torrance City Attorney’s Office said it could not bring criminal charges against Hernandez for the rants captured on video.
“If anyone has additional information related to either of these incidents, they are urged to contact the Torrance Police Department,” the press release reads.
Hernandez’s battery charges date back to an incident on Oct. 11, 2019. When the videos first went viral, Kayceelyn Salminao said she immediately recognized Hernandez as the person who assaulted her last year at Del Amo mall. Salminao said she never heard back from Torrance police after she reported the incident.
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"It's been since October and this woman is still on the streets, harassing other humans?" Salminao asked.
Hernandez, a retired social worker from Long Beach, has not yet been arrested, but she will have her bail set at $1.00, the city attorney’s office said.
