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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Crime Hate Crime Charges Filed for Homophobic, Racist Threats in Belltown

Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 1:20 PM

King County prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against a 47-year-old Seattle man for allegedly threatening to kill a gay man and a grocery store employee in Downtown Seattle earlier this week.

Prosecutors say that on June 29th, Michael A. Grundstrom approached a gay man outside of Site 17 Grocery on Western Avenue and Wall Street and began harassing him.

According to a Seattle Police Department probable cause document, the man was talking on his phone about a pink bandana he owned when Grundstrom approached him and asked "pink bandana, what, are you some kind of fag?"

The man told Grundstrom he was gay, the document says, and Grundstrom responded by stating that "all fags are child molesters and if I had my way I would kill all of them" and told the man that "if I ever see you with a child I'm going to kill you."

The gay man believed he was about to be attacked by Grundstrom and pepper sprayed him. Grundstrom then fled into the Site 17 grocery store and attempted to wash the pepper spray out of his eyes with a bottle of water.

Documents say Grundstrom then demanded an employee in the store give him some napkins and threatened to kill him. The employee refused and told Grundstrom to leave the store. Grundstrom again threatened to kill the employee and called the employee, who is Asian, a chink, and fled the store.

Grundstrom was arrested minutes later.

Court records say Grundstrom—who is being charged with Malicious Harassment, the state's hate crime statute—has previously been charged with multiple counts of burglary and drug possession, as well as theft, two DUIs and a hit and run.

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Wow, sounds like a real winner.

Posted by Hernandez on July 2, 2009 at 1:29 PM

"previously been charged with multiple counts of burglary and drug possession, as well as theft, two DUIs and a hit and run."

And all it took was a pink-bandana vigilante with a can of pepper-spray to put an end to his crime spree...

If this isn't an origin story for a superhero, it should be.

Posted by Ackham on July 2, 2009 at 1:37 PM

Hahahahaha!

Posted by I _Need_A_Drink! on July 2, 2009 at 1:38 PM

Court records say Grundstrom—who is being charged with Malicious Harassment, the state's hate crime statute—has previously been charged with multiple counts of burglary and drug possession, as well as theft, two DUIs and a hit and run.

It's both funny and sad that the world's most obnoxious bigots are also the world's biggest losers.

Posted by keshmeshi on July 2, 2009 at 1:46 PM

@4 It makes a lot of sense. I mean, the guy's already been an asshole by stealing shit, driving drunk and hitting people with his car, now he's also an asshole gay-basher.

Posted by Hernandez on July 2, 2009 at 1:56 PM

So, what's a pink bandana in hanky code?

Posted by Baconcat on July 2, 2009 at 2:08 PM

@6, look it up, Bacon"cat", don't you have access to teh intermets? If that, indeed, is your real name...

Props to anonymous gay man for being armed with pepper spray. Sweet. My ninja eggshells- containing- blinding- powder always break before I can deploy them. :(

Posted by treacle on July 2, 2009 at 2:21 PM

If I recall correctly a pink bandana can be tit torture, but I think this is a different context perhaps.

Posted by Reg on July 2, 2009 at 2:22 PM

Oh and I am glad this asshole was both sprayed and arrested.

Posted by Reg on July 2, 2009 at 2:23 PM

"multiple counts of burglary and drug possession, as well as theft, two DUIs and a hit and run" -- why the hell was this loser not ALREADY in jail for life?

Posted by Judith on July 2, 2009 at 2:24 PM

@7: I prefer the subtle stimulation of people playing semantic tug of war over traditions.

And Baconcat is indeed my real name. My lab identifier is #B4C0ZC47-F4G.

Posted by Baconcat on July 2, 2009 at 2:28 PM

If this is an example of who hates me for being gay, and I believe it is representative, then good. Scum like him are the result of the world's Hutcherson's preachings. And I really enjoyed the part about the pepper spray!

Posted by Vince on July 2, 2009 at 2:35 PM

That. Is. Awesome! Good for that pink bandanna fag! I should get some pepper spray.

Posted by Carollani

on July 2, 2009 at 2:47 PM

Can we please get one of those racist trolls here to speculate as to the race of the perp?

#10, he only had two DUIs.

Posted by w7ngman

on July 2, 2009 at 2:55 PM

Pink bandana=pepper spray top

The perp knew what he was getting into

Posted by RDM on July 2, 2009 at 3:03 PM

The rolling stones were wrong, i can get satisfaction. nice job with the pepper spray

Posted by Andy_Squirrel on July 2, 2009 at 3:11 PM

oh wait, he was right, that is a double negative statement

Posted by Andy_Squirrel on July 2, 2009 at 3:30 PM

Grundstrom is white, I know him. He's homeless and has addiction and mental health issues. I'm not surprised he made the news for this, he also used to accuse me of being 'reverse-racist' if I sided with someone of color over him in disputes. He is, however, a sad, fucked up man. I'm not being an apologist, just really sad he still hasn't gotten the helps he needs and probably never will.

Posted by Glasses on July 2, 2009 at 3:33 PM

Not really surprising. He probably has untreated mental illness, or he was on drugs, or both. I'm just relieved that Mr. pink bandana didn't end up like Shannon Harps.

Posted by Greg on July 2, 2009 at 3:46 PM

Thank goodness we have thieving, racist junkies like this clown who can't drive without drinking and having car accidents (which they flee from) to tell us how evil gay people are.

Posted by Kathy on July 2, 2009 at 3:47 PM

Pepper spray, awesome... that's exactly what it should be used for. It's non lethal, causes no permanent injuries and works most of the time on wackos threatening to kill homos. I keep a police size can in my car and if that doesn't work I have a taser and if that doesn't work the collapsible baton. I don't want carry a gun so I figure the next best thing is to carry all the less lethal stuff the cops do in the car. I'm gay and if I was in that situation I would have sprayed him too. You go girl! I personally like Sabre Red or Counter Assault.

Posted by Andrewwwwwwwwwwwwww on July 3, 2009 at 1:53 AM