University police have arrested 24-year-old Martin J. Ruiz in connection with a racist Snapchat video sent to a San Diego State student.
Ruiz, an SDSU student who is not enrolled in classes this semester, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after campus police began investigating an incident involving racist threats that were made over Snapchat videos.
The videos were sent to interdisciplinary senior CJ Simmons, a black student at SDSU.
Simmons posted the videos to his Twitter account and tagged the university’s official account, who took notice and began working with campus police to investigate the incident.
“I want to reaffirm that we will continue to take allegations of hate crimes seriously and immediately devote resources to the pursuit of the investigation,” SDSU Chief of Police Josh Mays said in a statement. “Our goal is to promote a safe and secure environment for all members of our community.”
This is the third racist incident against the black community SDSU has addressed in the last two months.
“Freedom from discrimination, harassment and violence are basic, fundamental rights and we refute all instances of intolerance and abusive behaviors. The threats made are fundamentally against who we are as a community,” SDSU President Adela de la Torre said. “We are grateful for and thank the University Police and also the District Attorney’s office for working collaboratively and quickly to identify the individual responsible and pursue criminal charges.”
Ruiz is currently being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of a felony hate crime and felony criminal threats.
