A Seattle man was charged Thursday with a hate crime after he allegedly assaulted an Asian woman because of her race, according to King County prosecutors.
The incident marks King County's third hate crime resulting in charges in the span of about two weeks, according to Casey McNerthney of the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. At least 10 hate crime incidents have resulted in charges so far this year, he said.
Michael John Allen, 40, was also charged with assault for hitting another woman in the head while yelling obscenities at her Monday evening in the 500 block of Olive Way, according to charging documents.
The woman told police Allen approached her "unprovoked," charging documents said.
After hitting the woman in the head, Allen targeted two Asian women — yelling at them to "go back to China" and punching one of them in the shoulder, according to charging papers. The two women were visiting Seattle when they were harassed, according to a police report.
A Seattle woman accused of yelling racial slurs and physically harming a Black woman in Belltown was also charged with a hate crime on June 28, according to King County prosecutors.
Jewels Ruth Luttinen, 45, is accused of twisting a lanyard hanging from a Black woman's neck, causing an abrasion. The woman told police an earring was torn from her ear and that her finger was injured and swollen after the confrontation.
She told police Luttinen had a history of making racist remarks toward her, according to charging documents.
Another woman, Maeve Jacqueline Nota, was charged June 30 with a hate crime and fourth-degree assault.
Nota is accused of spray-painting hateful comments on a Bellevue church property and breaking a glass door, according to charging papers. Nota is also accused of spray-painting the side of a man's face and his shirt after he told her to leave.
King County prosecutors filed 235 hate crime charges since 2018. Hate crimes targeting someone's race or ethnicity are the most common, followed by those targeting someone's sexual orientation and hate crimes targeting someone's gender or gender expression.
The Prosecuting Attorney's Office sees a higher number of hate crime referrals from Seattle than any other part of King County because Seattle police have a detective focused on hate crime investigations, McNerthney said.
Hate crimes are usually underreported, he said, adding that if other police departments had detectives focused on hate crimes, the number of referrals from those agencies would likely increase.
The Prosecuting Attorney's Office in May secured support from County Executive Dow Constantine to fund two new full-time employee positions dedicated to prosecuting hate crimes. The County Council will vote on whether to approve the positions later this month.
