SEATTLE — Warning: The following story contains graphic details that some viewers may find disturbing.
A 36-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a stranger during what Seattle police called a “violent hate crime attack.”
On Sept. 18 around 3:45 p.m., police were called to the intersection of 3rd Ave. and Marion Street, near the 7-Eleven on the corner, for reports of a woman who had been violently attacked.
Officers arrived and found her with a large, bloody wound and a “chunk of flesh” missing from her face, police wrote.
The victim told police she was attacked by a stranger.
She told police that a random woman threw a food wrapper at her as she walked past. When the victim asked why the woman threw the wrapper, the woman yelled at her that “you’re the inferior race” and started calling her a homophobic slur, police said.
The suspect then stood up and spit on the victim before grabbing her and pulling her to the ground. While the two women were on the ground, the suspect sank her teeth into the victim’s forehead, causing a 1-inch-diameter gash, police said.
A witness saw the attack and tried to pull the suspect off the victim. The witness also chased after the suspect and was able to wave down a King County Marshall at the courthouse.
The suspect, also a 36-year-old woman, was arrested and booked for hate crime offense and felony assault charges.
Seattle police said the victim was taken to a hospital for treatment, and that she was left with “permanent injuries [that] requires surgery.”
The King County Prosecutor’s Office charged the suspect, identified as Kamilia Chadli, with second-degree assault.
“Though a hate crime is not charged now, that charge may still be added later in the case if the evidence can meet the burden required by state law – which is often higher than what people understandably think the proof burden is,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Chadli does not appear to have a criminal record in King County, prosecutors said.
“While the defendant has no criminal history, the certification details a number of police contacts in the recent past related to mental health and substance use. Whatever the underlying reasons, this was an extremely violent attack which will likely have permanent ramifications for this victim,” prosecutors wrote.
In an email, the prosecutor’s office explained the assault charge:
“In Washington State, a Hate Crime is not a modifying offense that leads to additional time for a conviction on another charge – such as a firearms enhancement on an assault charge. A Hate Crime is a separate charge, and a Class C felony.
Under the law, if a Hate Crime could be proven here beyond a reasonable doubt, an Assault in the Second Degree conviction and Hate Crime conviction would be sentenced concurrently (RCW section 9.92.080). In other words, if prosecutors could prove the attack was motivated by one of the protected classes in the state’s Hate Crime law, a Hate Crime conviction would not bring a longer sentence under state law if the defendant were also convicted of the felony crime charged now, Assault in the Second Degree."
Bail for Chadli has been set at $150,000.
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