A Walnut Creek man suspected of threatening two people and telling one of them to “go back to your country” last week in Palo Alto is in custody, police said Monday.

Ambrose Jamari Ochola, 35, was arrested on suspicion of crimes that include misdemeanor battery, assault and a hate crime in connection with the March 3 incidents in downtown Palo Alto.

One victim, a man in his 40s originally from Azerbaijan, was sitting in his car in the 400 block of Emerson Street about 9:30 a.m. when Ochola parked his white 2017 GMC van in front of the victim’s and got out, police said.

The suspect approached the victim’s car and allegedly started banging on the victim's driver side window with a black object that the victim believed was a pocketknife, but later turned out to be brass knuckles.

Ochola reportedly accused the victim of following him, allegedly yelling “Go back to your country – we don't want to see you here,” and “Leave our country.” The victim told police that he didn’t know Ochola, and hadn’t ever interacted with him.

“The victim started to roll down his window with the intent to ask the suspect what his problem with him was,” Palo Alto police said in a news release.

The suspect then allegedly spat in the victim’s face. After that, the victim drove a block away to get away but the suspect allegedly followed him in his van. That’s when the victim called police.

When police arrived, they found Ochola in the 500 block of Emerson Street, but he allegedly didn’t obey commands and ran from officers. They apprehended him a short distance away in Lytton Plaza and he was arrested after a brief struggle, police said.

While officers were investigating that incident, a second victim called police to report a similar encounter, in which the same suspect had recently approached him while he had been sitting in his car near the intersection of Lytton Avenue and Ramona Street.

The second caller, a man in his 30s, said he also didn't know the suspect. Ochola had asked him to roll down his window, allegedly accused him of following him, and asked him to step out of his car.

When the victim refused, the suspect allegedly attempted to punch the victim through the half-open window of the car but missed. The suspect then swung his hands down and broke the side view mirror of the victim's car, police said.

There was not a hate crime connected with the second incident, police said.

Officers searched the suspect’s van and found brass knuckles wrapped in black electrical tape inside the driver's door, but didn't find a knife. The brass knuckles looked like a folded pocket knife, and police believe they were what the suspect had been holding at the time he allegedly accosted the victim.

Ochola was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of five misdemeanors (hate crime, battery, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism) and one felony (possession of illegal weapon).

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call the police dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.  Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to

pa******@ti****.org











or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.