An assault on a Black woman outside of her apartment building in Seattle will be prosecuted as a hate crime after authorities learned the white suspect screamed racial slurs.
The incident occurred just steps from her home, and the alleged perpetrator was a neighbor, a fellow tenant in The Cambridge apartments in the First Hill neighborhood.
Around 8 p.m. on Feb. 25, the victim and a friend were chatting near an outdoor staircase when John David French began yelling the N-word from his back door, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by local news outlet Fox13.
The 42-year-old suspect then bolted from his apartment and lunged over a small wall to assault the woman in what prosecutors say was an “unprovoked” attack. After knocking her to the ground, the suspect unleashed a torrent of punches and kicks while continuing to yell racial slurs.
The victim’s friend intervened and chased French back into his apartment, where he locked himself inside while the victim and her friend called 911.
According to Seattle Detective Eric Munoz, the police set a perimeter around the area when French refused to comply with police commands to vacate his residence. The suspect only relented after a judge fast-tracked the approval of a search warrant that night.
“It was very important to get this person off the street. This was disgusting behavior. It does not need to be happening in our city,” Munoz told the outlet.
The victim suffered cuts and bruises to her head, face, and knees and was treated at the scene, reportedly refusing ambulance transport to the hospital.
“Seemed to be unprovoked by the victim and it was pretty traumatic for the victim,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney, according to KIRO 7. McNerthney highlighted concerns over the “unpredictability” of the alleged actions, adding, “When you’re going about your day doing nothing wrong and all of a sudden, someone is accused of hitting you like this and saying those terrible things. That’s really frightening for anybody who identifies like that.”
French was arrested that evening and charged with a hate crime the next day, on Feb. 26.
The defense attorneys argued in court that he has no criminal history or arrests in Washington and should be released, saying, “This is an isolated incident and something that requires treatment rather than incarceration,” reported KIRO 7.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, asked for $75,000 bond due to the severity of the attack and requested that French be held in jail until the woman could file a restraining order against him.
As of Feb. 28 French remained in custody at the King County Jail on $20,000 bond, according to The Seattle Times, and McNerthney said the suspect is expected to enter a plea at his arraignment on March 13.
