Docs: Man yelled about 'China virus' during racially-motivated assault in Seattle
SEATTLE - A man accused of yelling racial epithets while assaulting two people in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood has pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.
According to court documents, the 38-year-old suspect approached the two victims, who were standing near the campus of City University of Seattle on Nov. 8
Witnesses said the suspect yelled "f****** Chinese", "China virus" and other anti-Chinese insults before headbutting one of the victims in the face. Witnesses also told police that the suspect had a large stick and began trying to attack another man with it and threw that man to the ground.
Probable cause documents say a witness told officers that the suspect had a face of "pure rage" as he attacked the two men.
The man thrown to the ground had a dislocated shoulder and the man who was headbutted had a broken nose and other minor facial injuries.
RELATED: King County prosecuting attorneys say local hate crimes were on the rise in 2021
The suspect was arrested a short time after the attack. Officers noticed he had blood on his knuckles but he allegedly told them he scraped his hands trying to jump over a fence. He also had a bloody lip that officers pointed out to him, and the suspect said he got the bloody lip from a bike accident, according to court documents.
He is being held for second-degree assault and a hate crime.
According to court documents, the man was previously charged with assault with a deadly weapon with possible great bodily injury in California back in 2017.
He's also been convicted in other states for assault causing bodily injury, domestic assault causing bodily injury/mental illness, driving while intoxicated, among other charges.
Documents say he was arrested nine times in Washington but was never convicted.
Prosecutors requested he be held on $10,000 bail.
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