Man pleads guilty in racially fueled stabbing

FONTANA -- A 40-year-old man has pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing a man in what authorities described as a racially motivated attack.

Brian Keith Stowers' guilty plea was entered Friday in Fontana Superior Court as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that carries a four-year prison term. Stowers is set to be sentenced April 22.

The victim, a Hispanic man, told police that he was walking home from a bar at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2010 when a car parked beside him near Laurel and Ivy avenues.

The driver -- Stowers -- left the car, cursed at the man and yelled a Spanish slang term, then stabbed the man three times in the rib cage. Stowers is white.

Police arrested Stowers three days after the attack after an officer recognized that Stowers' car matched the description of the stabber's vehicle.