Launches civil rights probe of racially- charged stabbing incident
By Associated Press
The FBI has reversed course and begun a civil rights investigation into a racially charged confrontation in which a young man was stabbed to death in Ocean Shores, Wash., police said.
Ocean Shores police announced the change of plans on Feb. 15 and said the FBI would try to determine whether Christopher Kinison, 20, of Olympia, and his friends violated the civil rights of three Vietnamese Americans shortly before Kinison was killed.
One of the three, Minh Duc Hong, 26, of Seattle, was charged with manslaughter, but a Grays Harbor County Superior Court jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal and failed to reach a verdict in December.
Prosecutors have since dropped the case.
The FBI has obtained a police report on the stabbing, but has not yet interviewed officers, police Sgt. David McManus said.
Investigators said the fatal encounter began when Hong, his brother Hung Duc Hong, and a friend stopped at a Texaco mini-mart at about 2 a.m. on July 4, 2000. According to testimony, as well as out-of-court eyewitness accounts, Kinison waved a Confederate flag and shouted drunken racial slurs at the three men. Witnesses told police that Kinison shouted “Gooks go home,” and “White supremacy.”
The Hong brothers told police they entered the service station and bought food. While in the store, Minh Duc Hong allegedly armed himself with two kitchen knives. He testified in December that on his way out of the store, Kinison spat on him, and said, “You don’t ‘effing’ belong here. Go back to your country.” He also testified that he feared for his life and started slashing Kinison during the fight. Kinison was stabbed 23 times.
Brett Purtzer, Hong’s lawyer, said Kinison was with at least two men, “kind of marauders” who had harassed other minorities in the area.
Kinison had been a bystander three days before his death at a July 1 incident involving Filipino American tourists. Witnesses said Kinison was present when one man confronted the group of 13 as they were returning to their cars in the parking lot of a kite shop. Jennifer Kalaw, who was among the visitors, said the group of men swore at them and made references to “white power.”
Three Asian American organizations — the Japanese American Citizens League, the Asian Bar Association of Washington, and the Organization of Chinese Americans — asked the FBI to investigate, but in October the agency refused.
“There is no federal law for a crime solely predicated on racial hatred,” Charles Mandigo, agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle office, wrote at the time. “There must be a statutory nexus in addition to the ‘hate crime.”’
FBI agents confirmed that a preliminary inquiry had begun, with the results to be sent to the U.S. attorney’s office for a decision on whether a larger investigation is needed.
Under federal law, it is a civil rights violation to bar someone access to public places, for example, based on race.
Police also sought a review by county prosecutors to determine whether anyone should face charges under state hate crime statutes, but deputy prosecutor Jerry Fuller said the only legitimate charge in the case was against Hong.
“From what I can see, the only other person who committed a violation of state law was Mr. Kinison, who’s dead,” Fuller said. |
