Man suspected of hate crime in assault on Irvine High School student and older brother

An Irvine man was arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime on allegations that he menaced an African American high school student and then used a pipe to beat the student’s brother Wednesday afternoon.

According to police, the altercation started about 12:50 p.m. while a 16-year-old was waiting in front of Irvine High School, where his older brother was supposed to pick him up after an athletics practice.

That’s when an Asian man carrying a metal pipe started using racial slurs and walking aggressively toward the student, according to the Irvine Police Department.

The student’s 24-year-old brother, who drove up as the altercation began, got out of the car and tried to intervene, police said.

Authorities allege the man head butted the brother and hit him several times on the arm with the pipe.

“The two victims are really nice, good people. They didn’t know the suspect. They didn’t provoke the suspect,” Irvine police spokeswoman Farrah Emami said. “They were innocent victims in this case. They didn’t do anything wrong.”

The brothers managed to get in their car to call 911, and the assailant left on foot, police said.

The younger brother was unharmed, but the older brother suffered a cut on his face and cuts and bruises on his arm, according to authorities.

Police found the bloody pipe in the school parking lot and found a suspect nearby and took him into custody, police said.

Christopher Qu, 24, was arrested on suspicion of committing a hate crime, felony assault and assault with a deadly weapon.

Qu had been released from jail just days before the attack, according to court records.

In 2013, he was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and a misdemeanor count of making criminal threats. In April that year, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge, and the felony count was dismissed. He was sentenced to 84 days in jail and three years of probation.

Records show he was sentenced in February to an additional 60 days in jail for violating his probation.

Qu was released March 22, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department records.