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Police Beat

by Charles Mudede

Kiss White Ass/Beacon Hill/Fri May 14/7:23 pm: Officer A. Johnson writes: "The victim is a Vietnamese immigrant, and a United States citizen. He told me that he had been outside his own house when (next door) the suspect began yelling and cursing at him. He reported that this is not unusual, that the suspect often yells, swears, and shouts racist remarks to him and his family whenever [the suspect] sees them, as well as displaying his middle finger to them....

"Today while he was yelling at the victim, the suspect began swinging a pickax in a fashion that led the victim to believe that the suspect intended to assault him with it. During this particular tirade, the suspect also made threats of physical harm toward the victim. The suspect said: 'Mother fucker. You're not white. You kiss white ass. That's why you get a job. You're not born in the USA. Motherfucker, I can kill you anytime I want to.' The victim retreated into his house and told his wife to call the police.

"Myself and Officer D'Ambrosio went north along 19th Avenue South to the suspect's residence. As we approached the front door to make contact, Sgt. Bakiano arrived there as well. I knocked on the front door and Officer D'Ambrosio announced, 'Seattle Police.' I then heard what sounded like rapid footsteps from within the house. Then Sgt. Bakiano advised Officer D'Ambrosio and myself that he saw the suspect exiting the rear of the house. I ran down the south side of the house with Officer D'Ambrosio right behind me. As we reached the rear of the house, we heard Sgt. Bakiano confronting someone at the front of the house, and yelling for him to get down on the ground. The suspect had run up the opposite side of the house toward Sgt. Bakiano, wielding a pickax in his hands. Officer D'Ambrosio and I took the suspect into custody. Officer D'Ambrosio and I then had the suspect stand in the street so as to make him visible to the victim from Officer Sauer's patrol car. The victim positively identified the suspect as the man who had threatened him.

"I read the suspect his Miranda warnings from the back of my SPD-issued resource book. The suspect stated to me that he understood his rights, and he wished to talk to me. 'I can't stand to see vets without jobs,' he explained, 'but these fucking people who aren't even from here have jobs!'"

Though very unpleasant, the suspect's form of racism seems outdated. It is so 20th century (particularly the deindustrialization decades--'60s, '70s, and '80s). Indeed, to make the claim that immigrants are taking American jobs (instead of American corporations taking them elsewhere) is so strange to many of us that we can't help but think of this suspect as something of a relic, or a rare species on the verge of extinction. You almost want the police to handle the suspect with care, so that he remains in excellent condition for some future museum dedicated to the history of race hysterias in the 20th century.

charles@thestranger.com