25-year-old Auburn man sentenced for hate crime after pulling Black woman off bus, stabbing her

A 25-year-old Auburn man was sentenced Tuesday for a federal hate crime after he pulled a Black woman off a Metro bus and stabbed her in 2024.

Adan Hernandez-Mayoral will spend four and a half years in prison for the incident in which he used a knife to cause bodily injury to the victim and attacked her because of her race, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“The facts of what happened on that bus are despicable,” U.S. District Judge James Robart stated. “It was a prolonged intentional assault on a Black woman. We need to protect the public from this defendant.”

Auburn man attacks woman after yelling racist comments on Metro bus

Hernandez-Mayoral boarded a King County Metro bus on March 7, 2024, and immediately began making racist comments about Black people, according to court documents. He started antagonizing the victim and yelled, “I don’t like Black people, f***in’ hate ’em.”

The defendant continued to yell racist remarks and referred to the woman as “Rosa Parks,” and told her to move to the back of the bus. When the woman tried to move away from Hernandez-Mayoral, he followed her, while hiding a knife behind his back.

When the bus doors opened, Hernandez-Mayoral grabbed the woman and pushed her off the bus and into a fence. He immediately began beating her all over her body, and after she fell, he began stomping on her. He then used a knife to repeatedly and violently stab the woman, whose thick coat spared her from serious injuries.

“The victim in this case was minding her own business on a familiar public transit route when a stranger made offensive comments about her race, threw her off the stopped bus, and then brutally assaulted her with a knife,” W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office, stated. 

Auburn man arrested near scene of assault

Hernandez-Mayoral fled the scene but was found and arrested by officers from the Kent Police Department later that evening. A neighbor reported that a man was hiding in their yard. The clothing of the man matched that of the suspect shown on the Metro bus surveillance footage.

Hernandez-Mayoral was ultimately arrested after being found hiding under a car, a short distance away from where the assault occurred.

“This was a horrific and deeply disturbing, racially motivated assault that targeted an innocent member of our community because of the color of her skin. I am pleased to have reached this conviction on her behalf. Hate-fueled violence has no place in Kent,” Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla stated.

Auburn man pleads guilty in December

Hernandez-Mayoral pleaded guilty in December, admitting he used a dangerous weapon to cause bodily injury to the woman and did so because of her race.

“We have delivered justice with the sentencing of Adan Hernandez-Mayoral for his brutal, racially motivated attack on the victim,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division stated. “Assaults like these destroy our communities by breeding fear and distrust of public places and facilities. The Justice Department will continue to aggressively prosecute such cases to restore safety and confidence in our cities’ streets and transit systems.”

KIRO 7 posted a video of the attack.

Contributing: Jason Sutich, MyNorthwest

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