PORT ANGELES — The FBI agreed Thursday to review the July 17 beating of a college-age black man by a white man in Port Angeles as a potential hate crime for possible prosecution under federal law, interim Police Chief Brian Smith said Thursday.
“I reached out to the FBI, and they are going to open a case to assist us,” Smith said, adding that he contacted the agency’s Poulsbo office.
“The facts support a crime they can work.”
Smith said the case will be reviewed under the Civil Rights Chapter of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 249, under which a person can be prosecuted for committing a hate crime.
Names not released
He said Port Angeles police are seeking two men who allegedly were involved in the beating incident of the man — a college-age Clallam County resident who has asked police not to release his name.
The assault took place at 2:30 a.m. July 17 near the intersection of South Cedar and West Ninth streets between the Eighth Street bridges.
One man is suspected as being the assailant, estimated at 18 to 19 years old, according to Smith.
The other man is suspected as having driven the assailant away.
“We have a name of a driver, and we have a name of a possible [beating] suspect,” Smith said.
Smith said police as of Thursday did not have enough evidence to prove probable cause that the two were involved, such as an eyewitness, a confession, physical evidence or the victim identifying his attacker in a lineup.
Three males and three females, all white, were present at the attack, according to the victim.
They drove up to the man in three vehicles while he was walking to a friend’s house after leaving a bar, Smith said.
One man hit him about four times in the face while yelling racial slurs at him, Smith said.
The man kept approaching him, swinging at his face, calling him racial slurs, “and said that [the victim] was going to die,” according to a police report.
After the attacker stopped, another man began approaching the him in a threatening manner before the group drove away, the man who was attacked told police.
“[The victim] told females of the group to tell the male to go and leave him alone,” according to the report.
“[The victim] said he feared for his life and thought he was going to get jumped because he was black.”
Treated and released
The man, who said he did not know anyone in the group, was treated for facial contusions and abrasions at Olympic Medical Center and released.
He took a photo of a license plate of a red pickup after he was assaulted, he told police.
It was traced to the owner, who is not believed to have been involved in the attack, Smith said.
The driver of the red truck is a suspect in the case, Smith said.
“We have an idea based on some information that traveled circuitously on a possible name of an assailant, an idea of who the assailant might be,” Smith said.
“I believe we have a pretty good idea of who the driver of the vehicle that left was.
“We are concentrating on two possible people.”
The assailant could have left the area, Smith said.
“We are not going to put the name of a possible suspect out there,” he said.
“When we have enough, we will issue [a] probable-cause [statement] and make an arrest.”
Smith said police have been able to talk to only one of the six people who were allegedly involved, and that was July 17, the day of the incident.
“We are looking for all six of them,” Smith said.
“We’ve been doing that since the morning this was reported.”
Unlike other crimes, such as burglary, those allegedly involved may not be inclined to talk to their friends about what happened, Smith said.
“People who were involved in this are probably experiencing some degree of shunning from people,” Smith said.
Possible charges
The assailant could face a charge of felony malicious harassment under state law, while the person who drove him away could face a charge of aiding and abetting.
Smith said police have not been able to devote as much time to the case as they would like because of their workload.
“It’s competed with our time,” he said. Felony investigations “all share the same space.”
Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 249, says whoever “willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
