SEATTLE - He's accused of a vicious hate crime, attacking a transgendered woman without provocation. And he's been convicted of the same crime before.
It happened last Sunday afternoon, at a Seattle bus stop at NW Market Street and 15th Avenue NW.
Police say the transgendered woman was waiting for a bus at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The suspect approached her and, according to charging papers, he yelled a slur at her, then said, "You ought to die and go to hell!"
"The victim was waiting minding her own business when the suspect approached her and without provocation began assaulting her," said Renee Witt, Seattle Police spokesperson. "Apparently he punched her in the face a number of times, threw her to the ground and kicked her."
Witnesses running out of a nearby Safeway called 9-1-1.
Prosecutors have now charged 51-year-old Daniel Patrick Woodward with malicious harassment, a hate crime.
Prosecutors say Woodward has been booked 36 times since 2004, and has had 39 warrants for his arrest. He was convicted of malicious harassment 7 years ago, along with multiple convictions of assault and property destruction.
When police arrested the suspect, he appeared intoxicated. But they say drunkenness does not excuse the crime.
The victim was taken to the hospital for her injuries. We're told she's been released.
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