Watching election2016 on Sproul Plaza Nov. 8, 2016. Photo: Ted Friedman
UC Berkeley police are investigative a hate crime that happened Tuesday night as students watched election returns at Sproul Plaza  Photo: Ted Friedman
UC Berkeley police are investigative a hate crime that happened Tuesday night as students watched election returns at Sproul Plaza  Photo: Ted Friedman

A man in his 50s who went up to Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley while election returns were playing on a screen Tuesday evening shouted racist and homophobic phrases at two students, according to the University of California Police Department.

The man then spat at them with spittle landing on one of the students. UCPD is classifying this as a hate crime.

The two students, one male and one female, were watching the election returns around 6:40 p.m. when the man yelled at them, according to police.

The students did not report the crime for two days, according to a UCPD press release.

Police described the person responsible as a white man in his 50s, 5 foot 6 to 5 foot 7 with a heavy build, and short gray hair with a ruddy complexion. He was wearing a red plaid shirt, grey hoodie, blue jeans and sneaker.

Police released a digital alert about the battery, called a Clery Timely Warning.

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Frances Dinkelspiel, Berkeleyside and CItyside co-founder, is a journalist and author. Her first book, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman...