Three Race-Based Hate Crimes Filed

Yesterday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed two hate crime cases. This is the third hate crime case we’ve filed since Friday (the last three business days) — and we’ve seen an overall increase in the number of hate crimes referred to our office this year.

One of the two cases filed yesterday is the hate crime charge against Joseph Track. It involves a Dec. 3 attack on a Seattle Parks Department employee in Occidental Park and racial slurs.

The second, the hate crime charge against Chris Allen Gentry Jr., involves racial slurs and an assault at a Renton grocery store.

The third hate crime case was filed Friday, Dec. 4. That case charged Keely Aidan Brown for a Seattle case that happened Dec. 1 in West Seattle and also involved racial slurs.

So far this year, our office has filed 54 hate crime cases. That’s compared to 38 in 2018 and 30 in 2018.