Another white passenger is claiming he was the victim of a hate crime on a Baltimore City bus. Patrick Green and Robert Rothe, both of Baltimore City, told police Green was targeted because of his race in a fight at 11:57 p.m. Monday on the No. 64 bus on South Hanover Street in South Baltimore?s Brooklyn neighborhood.
Investigators don?t believe the assault was racially motivated, because a black passenger also sustained injuries, said Jawauna Greene, a Maryland Transit Administration police spokeswoman.
She cautioned that the incident was not nearly as bad as the Dec. 4 assault on Sarah Kreager, 26, who said she was twice denied an open seat by nine Robert Poole Middle School students before she was “immediately attacked” upon sitting down.
“We don?t want copycat situations,” Greene said of the latest incident. “There was no hospitalization in this incident. This was nothing close to what happened to Ms. Kreager. This was not a situation where somebody got on the bus and said, ?I?m going to beat up a white person.? ”
Patrick Green sustained some cuts and bruises during the fight, and police are looking for four suspects.
As of Thursday, prosecutors had not determined whether Kreager?s beating was motivated by race, said Joseph Sviatko, a spokesman for the Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office.
Police are studying images from surveillance cameras on the bus to learn more about the assault ? a tool they likely won?t be able to use in Kreager?s case, because the video on that bus appears to be blank.
The six boys and three girls charged with punching and kicking Kreager were on the bus at the intersection of 33rd Street and Chestnut Avenue, said MTA police, who are investigating whether the incident was a “possible hate crime.”
Kreager is white; the middle schoolers, ages 14 and 15, are black.
Kreager has been placed in a witness protection program, after a cousin of one of the accused sent her a threatening message at the homeless shelter where Kreager stays, according to a law enforcement source.
