3 people accused of harassing patrons at Capitol Hill bar face hate crime charges
Apr 17, 2025, 4:49 PM | Updated: 4:52 pm
Suspects use a water pellet while harassing a Capitol Hill bar. (Photo courtesy of the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office)
(Photo courtesy of the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office)
A 19-year-old man, a 24-year-old man, and a juvenile face hate crime charges following an incident that happened back in February.
Prosecutors allege the suspects harassed and fired a water pellet gun at patrons of the Pony Bar on Capitol Hill. Police said the three circled the block at least 10 times, yelling anti-gay and anti-transgender slurs
“What prosecutors thought is that this criminal action was motivated by bias, by the perceived sexual orientation of the victims,” Casey McNerthney with the King County Prosecutor’s Office said. “When you do that, under the law, it’s considered a hate crime. When you look at the totality and the investigation that Seattle Police gave us, it’s pretty clearly a hate crime.”
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No one was seriously injured, but the incident sparked fear in the LGBTQ+ community in Capitol Hill. With these three charged, King County—just four and a half months into the year—is just one number shy of hate crimes charged in all of last year. McNerthany finds that troubling.
“It sure feels like people in general think they can get away with hate crimes against people because of their sexual orientation or perceived gender,” he said. “The message prosecutors and police want to send is that you can’t. And if you do that, you’re going to get charged with a hate crime.”
The two adults appeared in a King County Courtroom Thursday morning. Both pleaded not guilty. The juvenile is expected in court next week.
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