Kent police arrest men accused of stabbing woman, making racist remarks
Mar 8, 2024, 6:45 PM | Updated: 7:04 pm
Kent police car. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
Kent police arrested two men after a woman was stabbed while being called derogatory and racist names this week.
Officers were sent to a reported stabbing on Central Avenue South. The attack happened around 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, according to a Facebook post from the Kent Police Department (KPD).
Police said a woman called 911 saying she had been assaulted near a Metro bus, however, the men who allegedly stabbed her had run off.
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The men allegedly said ‘they did not like Black people’
When officers arrived at the scene, they found a 43-year-old African American woman from Kent. The woman told police two men came up to her while she was on a Metro bus and allegedly called her “racist, derogatory names” and said “they did not like Black people.”
The woman said she didn’t feel safe so she walked closer to the driver and asked him to call 911.
One of the men allegedly followed her to the front of the bus, grabbed her and tried to force her off the bus. The man, allegedly, then pulled her outside, punched her several times, took out a pocket knife and repeatedly stabbed her.
Officers at the scene said her jacket had several cuts in the fabric. KPD said she was wearing a bulky jacket, which protected her from being seriously injured.
The Kent Police Department makes 2 arrests
Officers said they searched the area for the two men. However, around 10 minutes into the search, a resident who lived on South 259th Street, called police saying a man was hiding under her car.
They ended up detaining a 22-year-old man from Maple Valley. Later, after he was confirmed to be the man who allegedly stabbed the woman, the man was booked into the King County Jail for assault and a hate crime.
The second man, a 22-year-old from Auburn, allegedly tried to interfere with his friend’s arrest. Therefore, he was arrested and charged with obstructing justice. He was booked into the City of Kent Corrections Facility.
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KPD said multiple witnesses gave officers statements about the attack and the Metro bus driver provided video footage.
“I am infuriated by the blatant hateful racially motivated attack on the victim. Our officers took this call very seriously, conducting a thorough investigation and successfully put the violent offender in jail,” Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said.
Padilla also said in the statement KPD will continue the investigation and will “prosecute the offender to the fullest extent of the law.”
“I want to say this in the strongest way that I can, hate crimes will not be tolerated. If you commit a hate crime in our city, KPD will be relentless in our pursuit of bringing you to justice.”
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email her here.
