Court documents reveal alleged ‘hate crime’ at Edmonds Ezell’s Chicken restaurant
Jul 16, 2024, 8:39 AM | Updated: 11:36 am
Ezell's Chicken Edmonds at 22019 Hwy 99 in Edmonds. (Ezell's Chicken)
(Ezell's Chicken)
Snohomish County Superior Court documents are revealing an alleged “hate crime” at an Edmonds business last month.
As reported by My Edmonds News, a man brandished a knife and hurled racial insults at two employees of Hispanic descent at the Ezell’s Chicken restaurant at 22019 Hwy 99 in Edmonds.
The incident happened on June 14. The Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office recently filed charges against 47-year-old Marcus Damion Anderson for multiple offenses: One count of second-degree assault with bias and two counts of third-degree assault directed at law enforcement officers.
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Anderson is being held in the Snohomish County Jail with bail set at $5,000. Court documents stated he had seven outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court, was convicted of 16 misdemeanors and is an eight-time felon, including one count of vehicular homicide.
According to an employee’s account to the authorities, Anderson demanded access to the restroom upon entering the establishment and then began waving a knife, threatening to slash a fellow employee amidst racial epithets and slurs. The employee expressed a genuine fear of Anderson potentially stabbing her or her colleague.
“I was coming out of the bathroom and I looked at him, he was carrying a knife and he pointed at me, threatening with it, and I quickly got scared,” the employee said in a statement translated from Spanish.
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Snohomish County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sarah Johnson stated in the legal documents that there’s no indication Anderson knew any of the employees. Additionally, Anderson is reported to have spat water at three distinct police officers while being led to a patrol car.
Police said they found 20 to 30 fentanyl pills on Anderson.
Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.
