The Seattle Police Department is investigating Anthony Lambinus for the alleged hate crime of assaulting an unnamed 71-year-old Jewish man in Seattle, Wash., on Monday, according to a redacted police report that the department shared with JNS.
Lambinus, who was born in 1987, allegedly called the Jewish man a “Zionist pig,” according to the victim. A witness told police officers that Lambinus was “standing over” the victim, who lay on the sidewalk, and was “punching him in the face.”
“After I concluded my investigation, I determined Anthony assaulted the victim due to his perception of the victim being Jewish,” the unnamed officer who filed the report stated. “The victim believed he was targeted because he is Jewish.”
The victim told officers that Lambinus confronted him for tearing down a “Gaza sign” and that the alleged attacker headbutted him and knocked him to the ground. (The police report refers to both torn “Gaza posters” and a torn “Gaza poster.”)
The victim said that he pepper-sprayed Lambinus, feeling threatened. The witness told police that the attacker appeared to stop when the pepper spray took effect.
Lambinus told officers that he and the 71-year-old had walked into each other accidentally while arguing and that the victim had followed him. When he turned to confront the victim, the latter pepper-sprayed him, according to the accused attacker, who claimed he swung his fists “blindly” to defend himself once pepper-sprayed.
The witness told police that he saw Lambinus punching the victim. Per the police report, the victim suffered a bloody mouth and swollen lips, and Lambinus received a laceration above his forehead. Both declined medical attention.
Brian Pritchard, a spokesman and detective for the Seattle Police Department, told JNS that the matter is being investigated as a hate crime.
Casey McNerthney, director of communications for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, told JNS that the evidence suggests that the incident is a misdemeanor hate crime, but doesn’t rise to a felony hate crime because the attacker was politically motivated rather than driven by animus toward the victim’s religion. He said the incident could still be charged as a felony hate crime if the police provide them with the requisite evidence.
“This is an incident that should be prosecuted,” Douglas Wagoner, deputy director of communications for the prosecuting office, told JNS. “The only question is: what can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, a gross misdemeanor or a felony?”
Wagoner said the police investigation is ongoing and that law enforcement has not yet referred the evidence to the office to make a charging decision. He also said that misdemeanor cases are within the purview of the city attorney’s office.
Tim Robinson, communications manager for the city attorney’s office, told JNS that the office has not yet received a referral from the police on the matter.
Solly Kane, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, told JNS that “the Federation finds this hate crime in the heart of our community deeply troubling.”
“Violence and antisemitism should have no place in Seattle or our country,” Kane said. “We are grateful to the Seattle Police Department for responding quickly and treating this crime with the utmost seriousness. Seattle should be safe for all communities, and we need leaders from the justice system, civic spaces and faith-based institutions to stand up against anti-Jewish harm.”
Regina Sassoon Friedland, regional director of the American Jewish Committee’s Seattle office, told JNS that “there has been an increase in incidents.”
“There was a visibly Jewish teenager who was beaten up on his way to synagogue over Sukkot,” she said. She added that the teen’s family doesn’t want any publicity over it.
“I do a monthly conversation with new recruits to the Seattle Police Department, and there is an effort there from some,” she said. “I don’t think this carries over to city leadership.”
