A UC Riverside student who took off another student’s Make America Great Again hat in a viral video is now facing misdemeanor grand theft. Hetty Chang reports for the NBC4 News at 11 on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017.
A UC Riverside student has been charged with misdemeanor grand theft for taking another student’s "Make America Great Again" hat in a now-viral video.
The complaint against Edith Macias was filed Nov. 3 by the Superior Court of California County Riverside. If convicted, Macias faces a maximum sentence of one year in county jail.
The incident happened on Sept. 27 on the university’s campus. Student Matthew Vitale wore the red hat and had it taken off by Macias, who ran away with it and complained to the campus' Student Life department.
In the video recorded by Vitale, he can be heard demanding Macias to give his property back. The defendant told the Student Life department that the hat "represents genocide" and Vitale responded that he has the right to wear it because of his freedom of speech.
The statute the defendant has been charged under says grand theft applies when property is taken from someone’s body.
Macias' next court date is scheduled for March 1, 2018.
