Prosecutors charged a Seattle man with a felony hate crime after he allegedly threatened multiple Asian-Americans on two separate occasions earlier this month.
Christopher Allen Hamner, a 51-year-old well-known Black Lives Matter activist, was arrested Thursday on accusations of committing malicious harassment in the Seattle area, according to a Seattle Police Department (SPD) blotter.
Hamner had his bail set at $75,000 and is being held at the King County Correctional Facility for the felony hate crime charge plus three additional counts of malicious harassment, jail records show.
According to court documents filed to the King County Superior Court, Hamner used offensive language and threw unknown objects towards at least five Asians on two separate occasions. All the incidents happened while on the road, or near a vehicle.
On March 16, he allegedly harassed Pamela Cole, an Asian-American woman, and her two children aged 5 and 10 while they were seated inside their mother’s vehicle.
Hamner allegedly yelled racist obscenities at Cole before “punching his fist together” and telling her to get out of her car while throwing an object at her car.
Cole has been outspoken about the incident and also took multiple pictures of the suspect before reporting to authorities the alleged hate crime, according to the SPD blotter.
“The kids and I were in utter shock and confusion cause we just couldn’t understand why he was targeting us especially since we hadn’t had any interactions with the man,” Cole wrote on her personal Facebook page, explaining what happened.
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Three days after the first incident, Hamner targeted two other Asian women on March 19 also while they were inside their car, court documents show.
He has been accused of blocking two victims with his vehicle in the middle of the road, blocking the traffic, and screaming similar insults at the two women. He also again threw projectiles at the victims.
“As victims Wong and Yao were attempting to drive by the defendant’s car, the defendant cut them off, blocked traffic, and yelled ‘F-you Asian,’” the documents allege.
“The defendant then got out of his vehicle, charged at them, and threw an item at their vehicle.”
Hamner’s personal Facebook page is filled with posts supporting Black Lives Matter and condemning racism in the United States.
In June 2020, he also recorded a video of himself participating in the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seattle, where he filmed and later posted anti-Trump and anti-police content.
Hamner’s arraignment is scheduled for April 8 at the King County Courthouse.