Case dropped against man accused of hate crime against Asian business owner

All charges were dropped Tuesday against the man accused of attacking the owner of an Asian business in what community leaders decried as a hate crime.

Prosecutors said no racial slurs were uttered, and the business owner fired a gunshot at the man before he was beaten.

Anthony Dishari, 36, was accused of battery and attempted robbery motivated by bias or hatred and resisting a public officer after police claimed he uttered racial slurs inside a tea shop before beating the owner in the parking lot.

Officers were called just after midnight on Jan. 22 to Cloud Tea, 4045 S. Buffalo Drive, near Flamingo Road, where the owner was found injured.

The owner initially told officers he had a gun on him but never pulled it out. Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Dickerson said Tuesday in court that footage from a nearby business was presented to him Friday, after Dishari was charged.

The video, Dickerson said, showed the business owner pointing a gun at Dishari and walking toward him. The owner was taken to the ground and fired a shot, Dickerson said.

“(The owner) did not have a right to get out of his vehicle and pull a firearm on the defendant at the time and then walk toward him,” Dickerson said. “That would create a situation where Mr. Dishari then would have had the right to defend himself.”

Dickerson moved to dismiss the case, but Dishari’s attorney, Sean Sullivan, asked for the case to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the charges could not be refiled.

In a hearing last week, Sullivan said Dishari graduated from Durango High School and served in the Air Force before working as an armed security guard in Summerlin. Sullivan insisted on Tuesday that Dishari was never a racist man and said his family is being harassed in light of the claims made in the case.

“His family is in fear of their lives,” the attorney said. “His brother can’t drive a car with personalized plates because he’s been labeled a racist.”

At a press conference last week, police, Clark County commissioners and representatives from the Asian Chamber of Commerce gathered to condemn the alleged hate crime and ask Asian residents to stick together.

Dickerson said he also received footage that came with audio from inside the business, where two employees had accused Dishari of uttering racial slurs.

“With the closest ear I can give to the audio, I do not hear any racial slurs in that audio,” Dickerson said Tuesday.

Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini commended the attorneys for their diligence in finding the truth and thanked Dishari for his service in the military.

“I’m sorry, because I can’t imagine being accused of something when this does not appear to be the case at all,” she said just before dismissing the case with prejudice.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.