Man arrested after racist rant in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood
Jun 16, 2018, 2:28 PM | Updated: 10:40 pm
A man was arrested Friday after he went on a public, racist rant in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood.
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The man was using racist epithets and yelling at passersby, saying that “my people are going to bury you,” and “we built these streets! White men built these streets!” The man was frequently using the n-word.
Keoke Silvano, a photographer and advisor at the University of Washington, was on his way home and exiting the Beacon Hill station. That’s when he heard a white male yelling at an African-American man. Silvano began filming.
“It was just an ugly word and he was just using it to arm himself against someone that I felt was defenseless and couldn’t protect himself,” Silvano said.
A video of the incident has gone viral and can be seen here (WARNING: offensive language).
Silvano said he would get in between the two men as he was filming. He says the suspect would continue to rant using racial slurs until two other white men approached him. Someone eventually called 911. Once police were called, the offensive man ran down the street, but he was picked up by officers soon after.
Seattle police have confirmed the man was arrested Friday afternoon and booked into King County Jail for misdemeanor harassment.
According to KIRO 7, the judge said in open court that the suspect from the Facebook video had not complied with mental health treatment ordered in previous convictions. The judge also said he is concerned that the man’s behavior is ramping up.
