Associated Press
SEATTLE — King County prosecutors have charged an 18-year-old Auburn man with a hate crime, saying he beat another man close to death with an aluminum baseball bat while shouting racial slurs.
According to charging papers, Julian Tuimauga attacked 26-year-old DaShawn Horne, who is black, on Jan. 20 because he believed Horne had sexual relations with Tuimauga’s sister. Horne has not awakened since the attack, and a piece of his cranium has been removed to relieve brain swelling; it’s unclear if he’ll recover.
Horne was beaten as he was leaving the Tuimaugas’ home to get into a car operated by a driver for the ride-hailing service Lyft. The Lyft driver witnessed the attack and called police. They say they recovered a cellphone video that Tuimauga took of Horne bleeding on the ground, in which Tuimauga continued to yell slurs.
Tuimauga, who is listed as Asian in court documents, is being held on $500,000 bail. His attorney, Justin Wolfe, told The Associated Press in an email that he couldn’t make any comments at this time.
