ST. PAUL — Authorities have charged a self-described “super racist with a kind heart” with a hate crime for allegedly punching a Jewish hospital employee in St. Paul.

Fifty-five-year-old John David Korngable is charged with gross misdemeanor assault motivated by bias for an incident in the Regions Hospital psychiatric ward Jan. 25. The criminal complaint filed Thursday says an employee was wearing a traditional Jewish skullcap when Korngable punched him in the face, giving him a bloody lip.

The complaint says Korngable told police he didn’t have a problem with the man specifically, just his race. He also called himself a “super racist with a kind heart.” And it says he told police he wanted “a non-Jew lawyer.”

Korngable was committed to the hospital as mentally ill. He doesn’t have a defense lawyer.