Man Accused of Hate Crimes and Animal Cruelty on Seattle Metro

While traveling on the Seattle metro, a woman allegedly received the blow of racial slurs from another man on the bus. That's not all though, apparently, while this man was shouting racial comments, he was violently attacking her dog at the same time. Police reports state that as he shouted racist comments, he repeatedly kicked her dog at the same time. The woman claims that he kept throwing out these racial comments, and really "let loose"; because of that the driver forced him to get off and then he was soon arrested.

Police report that other passengers claim that prior to the racial outbreak, he also broke a window further down on the bus as well in his outrage. Witnesses state that this was no subtle event, the bus driver claims that she has never seen a passenger act so "scary" in all of her years as a public transportation driver. Michael E. Johnson was arrested and is now facing charges for animal cruelty as well as hate crimes The victim claims that she was on the Metro before Johnson, already seated down prior to his arrival. Witnesses claim that he started shouting at her because her dog was blocking the aisle. She states that while he was aggressively kicking her dog, he was yelling racial expletives at her while saying he would prefer to be kicking her, a black woman.

This outbreak was not the only one on the bus, right after his encounter with the African American woman, the driver reported him to the police and he was kicked out of the bus. Another male passenger came up to the front to help force him off of the bus, and protects the other people within. He went around to the front of the bus, and ripped off a windshield wiper and then continued around the bus and broke a total of 6 of the windows throughout from the outside. He was arrested on the scene, and is also looking at charges for malicious harassment as well as animal cruelty and hate crimes.

For whatever reason, an outbreak occurred, and despite the situation, every person deserves the chance to receive professional legal counsel when accused of a crime. Contact The Law Offices of Freedman & Freedman today to discuss your situation and to determine the next steps for making your defense. If convicted of these sorts of crimes, a person could be looking at severe fines as well as time behind bars. If you have been accused of any level of offense, don't wait another moment to take legal action and challenge the charges. Call our office today to discuss your case and start the steps towards fighting for your freedom.

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