A Seattle Black Lives Matter supporter was arrested on Thursday and charged with multiple hate crimes stemming from at least two separate incidents.
On March 16, Christopher Allen Hamner allegedly threatened Pamela Cole, an Asian American woman, and her two children while they sat at a light, according to court documents obtained by the Washington Examiner. The 51-year-old reportedly jumped out of his car and yelled, “F— you, you Asian b—-. F— you!” The mother had been driving her children home from school.
“As a parent, I thought I couldn’t protect my kids, and that was the worst thing,” Cole told the local outlet.
A few days later, Hamner was implicated in a similar incident when he was said to have followed two Asian Americans in their car. Prosecutors said he cut them off and charged at them while yelling obscenities. Some of the victims included children as young as 5 and 10, authorities said.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Hamner has been charged with a hate crime for “violent, anti-Asian behavior.” He is being held in jail on a $75,000 bond at the time of publishing.
ASIAN AMERICAN VETERAN PUMMELED IN SAN FRANCISCO AND POLICE NAB SUSPECT FOR ALLEGED HATE CRIME
The Washington Examiner reviewed several of Hamner’s Facebook videos, and many appear to place the man at a Black Lives Matter march and rally. One video, taken in June, showed him reading signs that read “RACISM IS AN EPIDEMIC” and “CHANGE THE SYSTEM #BLM #NOJUSTICE #NOPEACE.”
He also appeared frequently to post left-leaning political content on his Facebook page.
“We Stand UNITED against racism& white supremacy,” he wrote on March 23 in reference to a NowThis video pertaining to a union between the black and Asian communities to combat hate.
On the same day, the Black Lives Matter supporter likened New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to “AOC: Angel Of Congress.”
“Republicans are more concerned about poliiccs [sic] than helping the American people,” he wrote earlier in the month.
Hamner also routinely attacked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former President Donald Trump, and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in previous Facebook posts.
Residents throughout the country have organized protests and other demonstrations in solidarity with the Asian American community after reports have suggested that hate crimes against the Asian minorities have been on the rise since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Activists were amplified after the arrest of Robert Aaron Long, 21, who allegedly opened fire at three different Asian-owned salons, killing eight people in mid-March. He’s suspected of gunning down at least four people and injuring another at the Young’s Asian Massage Parlor before allegedly killing four more at the Gold Spa and Aroma Therapy Spa.
Police at the time said it was too early to determine if the shootings were related to hate and instead insisted that Long was suffering from a sex addiction. Law enforcement said Long wanted to “eliminate” temptation and had frequented some of the businesses in the past.
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“The suspect did take responsibility for the shootings,” Capt. Jay Baker said. “He said that early on, once we began interviews with him. He claims that these — as the chief said, this is still early, but he does claim it was not racially motivated. He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.”
