The Seattle Police Department says it’s arrested a 39-year-old man accused of violently attacking a transgender person in the University District last night.
Police say the victim called 911 around 6 p.m. to report that a group of men using anti-trans slurs had attacked them on the 4700 Block of University Way Northeast. According to arrest records, the victim had a swollen eye, broken teeth, scraped hands, and pain in the abdomen. (The report identifies the victim as a transgender female, but uses “they” pronouns throughout. Police sometimes misidentify, or use unclear language, when referring to transgender people in reports. We can’t be sure what pronouns the victim would use or how they would describe themselves.)
According to arrest records, the victim was leaving work and encountered a group of at least four men on University Way NE. One of the men called the victim a drag queen and told them to take their makeup off. The victim turned around to ask what they’d said and raised their phone to take a photo. Before the victim was able to take one, the men started beating the victim, punching them in the face and, after the victim fell to the ground, kicking their body.
The victim escaped and dashed into a nearby restaurant, the men running behind the victim in pursuit. The suspects came into the restaurant, but customers fended them off, arrest records say.
The victim told police the suspects repeated “Semper Fi,” the motto of the US Marine Corps. When the victim told them they were a veteran, the men referenced “Trump ending transgender acceptance in the military.”
Police say officers arrived shortly after the victim entered the restaurant and interviewed witnesses and the victim, who was evaluated by Seattle Fire.
Police say witness descriptions matched the suspect description from an unrelated domestic violence crime, which aided in the suspect’s arrest. According to the arrest records, the suspect’s girlfriend had called police the day before, alleging he’d thrown a can of food and injured her. In a subsequent update, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office confirmed that the suspect had been charged with a hate crime in September for allegedly attacking a Sound Transit fare enforcement worker. He pleaded not guilty.
Police say they located the man standing next to the car in the description—a dark blue Toyota Camry that they identified as rented from Enterprise—parked in front of an apartment building. Police say when the man entered the apartment building, they remained there while securing a warrant, and later arrested him in the attic.
In a subsequent update, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office confirmed that the suspect had been charged with a hate crime in September for allegedly attacking a Sound Transit fare enforcement worker. He pleaded not guilty.
Police say they’re searching for the remaining suspects.
Danni Askini, executive director of the Seattle trans advocacy organization Gender Justice League, texted The Stranger that there is a direct link between the anti-trans political attacks at the state and federal levels and “this kind of appalling interpersonal violence.” She called on elected officials and fair minded people to condemn such attacks. Between 2022 and 2023, bias crimes on the basis of sexual-orientation and gender-identity rose 8.6 percent, according to FBI data.
According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, anti-gay and anti-trans hate crimes are the second most common types of hate crimes in the county behind racially-motived hate crimes. Cases prosecuting both racist and anti-queer hate crimes have been on the decline since the pandemic in King County, but many hate crimes go unreported and some victims do not know crimes were committed against them.
District 4 Council Member Maritza Rivera said in a statement that she was thankful to hear the victim was able to escape their attackers. There was “no room for this kind of hate and violence in our city,” she says. Council Member Rivera says she had a sense of urgency about this and would work with Mayor Bruce Harrell and SPD to address crime in her district.
Mayor Harrell’s Press Secretary Callie Craighead said in a statement that the alleged hate crime was heinous and extremely disturbing. She wrote that the city will continue to condemn hateful rhetoric and actions from the federal government and protect the rights of its LGBTQ citizens. Craighead also referenced the City Council ordinance passed this week that designated Seattle as a “Welcoming City” and extended the state’s shield law blocking out-of-state subpoenas related reproductive and gender-affirming care into city law.
SPD says its Bias Crimes Unit is investigating. Since the Presidential election, the unit has investigated at least three attacks on queer people in Seattle.
The morning after the election, a man allegedly emerged from a car flying a Trump/Vance flag to beat a gay man with a metal baseball bat. Before the alleged bat attack, the victim reported the men were shouting slurs and a friend tossed a drink through the car window in response. Last month, three suspects that were passing around a toy gun and shouting slurs shot people standing outside Pony in Capitol Hill with water pellets.
SPD has identified suspects in both alleged crimes. The King County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing the charges.
This is a developing story.
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Four real tough guys vs one femme. What cool badasses. Good for the restaurant patrons for fighting them off, too bad it was still a call for police not medic.
Let’s hope these shit stains are prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.
You know, the whole point of pronouns is to have a quick way to refer to a being without having to know details about them, like their name.
We’ve taken a wrong turn when the author needs 44 words in parenthesis to explain their usage of a pronoun in the article. Say he, say she, say they, whatever you think is the correct editorial call. The dialogue though is just performative virtue signaling, that has nothing to do with advancing the article.
That said, fuck these attackers.
@4 – Indeed.
Given that the victim is a trans woman, use “her” instead of “them”. Nonbinary is not trans and need not be the default. Don’t fault the police, or anyone for that matter, for pronoun errors. In news reports, it’s really nice not have to parse the plural “them” vs. the nonbinary “them”.
Absolutely Terrible!
The Stranger led the call from Sawant and Teresa Mosqueda to defund the Seattle Police. The Stranger undermines the Police at every opportunity.
Results: Police quit and it’s hard to hire. Wages had to go up to attract people. And, Seattle has the FEWEST cops per person in the entire nation.
Had Seattle had more police, perhaps this attack would have never happened.
The Stranger should stop hating on Seattle Police and start supporting them.
Good job SPD and I hope the attackers rot.
@4 The discussion on pronouns was more aimed that discussing how SPD has a tendency to misgender trans folks. It was quite appropriate to the article.
@5 While one would tend to think that, there are trans folks who identify as non-binary.
@6 why are Seattle police such snowflakes that an alt weekly being mean to them makes them not want to work here? It’s hard to imagine someone protecting the community from actual harm if words are too scary for them. I’d say any cops who quit for that reason are no loss at all.
@9: Even when there’s an attack on a trans person and the police arrest the suspect, the ACAB mentality persists.
WOKE now means anyone who attacks someone for syntax or semantic errors, as if we were computer programs. We all need to lighten up.
Being appalled that someone was beaten up because they’re TG doesn’t mean that you have to use pronouns you don’t agree with. That’s just exploiting a tragedy or injustice to further other ends.
@11 Besides which, I thought “they” or “them” was the polite terminology if people are uncertain. But who can keep up with the ever-changing rules for “correct” and “woke” behavior. I really think that something else is going on there, besides the fact that many people don’t want to call M-F TG persons “she” or “her” or F-M TG persons “he” or “him.” They don’t want to be rude, but they don’t want to say something they don’t think is correct.
@10,
Absolutely nobody was complaining about the police here until @6 brought it up, you should be whining at him.
@14: Really? The author started the piece by complaining how the police misidentify trans people.
@4 Not all trans people use the pronouns they now currently appear to be. Some still use they/them. The Stranger was simply stating that they don’t know what the person prefers and had to use the information they had so that the person doesn’t think they’re intentionally misgendering them. None of this has any effect on your life. Stop bitching about EVERYTHING. Good lord.
apparently the man who committed this crime, had already been arrested for violently attacking a transgender city worker last month. however the “Northwest Community Bail Fund”, paid for him to be sprung. hasn’t the stranger highlighted NCFB as a good thing? Is it still good, when they pay for the release of violent criminals, that go on and perpetrate more violent acts? such a conundrum, don’t you think Viv?