Three-fourths of Fat Tuesday crime suspects are black, police say

Three-quarters of the more than 100 people identified so far as suspects in crimes committed during the Fat Tuesday riot are black, Seattle police sources say.

Many victims say some of the random beatings in Pioneer Square were clearly tinged with racial hatred. And in at least two Mardi Gras incidents under investigation, African American attackers were heard yelling racial slurs at white victims, police said.

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In another instance, a woman witnessing the beating of two white men by a group of blacks heard one of the attackers say, "That's what you stupid white people get."

Police officials say they're not actively investigating any hate crimes, but they are no longer insisting there is no evidence of underlying racism or an apparent prevalence of black-on-white violence.

"If our investigation shows that there is reason or need to investigate these crimes, any crime, based on ethnic groups as an element of the crime, we will do that," police spokesman Sean O'Donnell said this week.

Sources close to the task force investigating the Mardi Gras mayhem say blacks make up about 75 percent of the 103 suspects who have been identified to date with the help of videotape, photographs and eyewitnesses. Many of the suspects have criminal records, and some of those are known Seattle-area gang members, one officer said.

Police continue to say that random criminal behavior -- not race -- remains the focus of their investigations into the scores of savage beatings, rioting and other crimes that led to one death, more than 70 injuries and rampant property damage.

"Most of these suspects are people who aren't strangers to criminal activity," said Sgt. Gary Nelson, a task force commander.

In the most notorious beating, 20-year-old Kristopher Kime was helping pick a woman up from the pavement when he was clubbed over the head from behind. The force of the blow sent him tumbling headfirst into the pavement. He was then kicked and stomped by several other men.

Kime died later that night of a brain injury. None of his attackers has been arrested, but investigators say all are black. The victim was white.

Kimberly Kime-Parks has refused to dwell on the racial aspects of her son's death. "It's this senseless violence, not necessarily the people," she said last week. "There's just got to be an end."

The Police Department has declined to release information about the ethnicity of the suspects, saying that doing so could compromise investigations.

Of the first 20 people booked the night of the riot, 12 were white, seven black and one Asian, according to jail records.

Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said shortly after the riot that there was no evidence indicating that any of the crimes were racially motivated. People of all backgrounds were involved in the melee, he said.

The chief declined to comment this week on race-related issues stemming from the Fat Tuesday investigations.

O'Donnell, however, said Wednesday that Kerlikowske's initial statements regarding racial motivations "must be taken into the context of when they were made."

The task force has since made 10 arrests. Nearly all of those suspects are African American, investigators say. Twelve other suspects have been identified by name but still remain at large, and another 86 unnamed suspects who investigators have identified by face or other physical characteristics.

Meanwhile, two men were charged yesterday with indecent liberties during the Mardi Gras riot. They are the first to be accused of sex crimes during the melee in the Pioneer Square district. The men, ages 20 and 17, allegedly fondled a woman.

Investigators confirmed this week that a number of black suspects are known gang members. One officer said he immediately identified at least six suspects from prior gang activity after viewing some of the Fat Tuesday videos.

A 23-year-old white woman who witnessed the riot said she observed several incidents of groups of black men singling out white victims.

During one attack inside a parking garage, five young black men kicked and beat two white men, said Rachel, who asked that her last name not be published.

"After they jumped them, I heard one say, 'That's what you stupid white people get.' That's exactly what he said."

Hate crimes or slurs?

But were incidents like that hate crimes or just slurs uttered in the heat of combat? And when a group of minorities beats a white person, does that mean the crime is racially motivated?

Even victims and witnesses of the same attacks aren't sure.

About midnight during the Fat Tuesday street party, Brian Conrad, 23, a Renton air conditioning repairman, was viciously assaulted by a group of five Hispanic men.

Conrad, who suffered a broken jaw, now has titanium plates and screws permanently affixed to his skull. His jaw will remained wired shut for the next six weeks.

"I'm not a racial person at all, but to me, a lot of minorities were down there hunting white people," he said. "They weren't beating up other minorities, and you didn't see packs of 10 or 12 white guys running around attacking minorities.

"I don't know if these guys feel they've been beat down by the white man, and they were out to get revenge, or what. But they were out there, in packs, hunting. It was premeditated. So, yeah, I think there's some racism there."

Susan Conrad, 22, a Kent apartment manager, said she heard no racial slurs when she watched her brother's attackers beat and stomp him at the corner of First Avenue and Yesler Way.

"I think there was some underlying racial stuff going on there," she said, "but whether or not it played into the attack on my brother, I just don't know."

Steve Hyland, 22, of Sumner, who was attacked outside Doc Maynard's by a group of 10 black males, said it doesn't surprise him most of the suspects identified by police are black.

"They were obviously targeting white people," said Hyland, who was left with a broken cheekbone. "There's no question it was racially motivated."

Ralph Radford, 38, a free-lance photographer covering the riot for The Associated Press, was beaten, kicked and possibly robbed by six black men. He didn't want to speculate on whether they attacked him because he is white.

"I don't think the issue of whether it was racially motivated should be disregarded, but it's not for me to say," Radford said. "That should be left up to the police."

Radford was attacked after he shot photographs of the same group of men singling out and attacking two different white men. When the attackers turned on him, he said one shouted, "Don't take any photos!"

A fuzzy picture of the main perpetrator that Radford later retrieved from his broken camera helped police make an arrest. King County prosecutors yesterday charged an 18-year-old Seattle resident with rioting and assault.

'Unfortunate disparity'

Last week, Urban League President James Kelly stood among area black leaders to condemn the Fat Tuesday riot and blast the news media for unfairly portraying blacks as the instigators.

"It's unfortunate that a disparity of those suspects are African American, but regardless of color, the perpetrators of this senseless violence need to be brought to justice," Kelly said Wednesday.

Kelly hopes the public "will not draw broad stereotypes" based on the race of those arrested. People should realize Fat Tuesday perpetrators do not reflect the majority of African Americans, or even those who attended the Mardi Gras celebration, he said.

O'Donnell, the police spokesman, cautioned against making "premature assessments," since the number of arrests and suspects is changing daily.

Identifying hate crimes can be as difficult as trying to read someone's mind, said Seattle police Detective Christie-Lynn Bonner, who investigates bias crimes.

Investigators must look at "the totality of the situation" before determining whether a hate crime occurred -- looking at the setting of the attack, what was done or said, and other factors, Bonner said.

"Racial slurs do not necessarily mean a hate crime has been committed," she said, not referring to Fat Tuesday. "It depends on the context they're used in."

City leaders have largely left sensitive race-relations issues unaddressed in the wake of the riot.

When Kerlikowske and Assistant Chief Dan Bryant briefed the City Council recently, only Councilwoman Judy Nicastro acknowledged the possibility of racial tension.

Nicastro said some of the responsibility for the Fat Tuesday violence may fall on white youngsters who were reportedly taunting blacks. Even if the bulk of the attacks prove not to be racially motivated, there's a strong public perception that they are, said Jesse Scott, night manager of Merchant's Caf� in Pioneer Square. (Note: When originally published, this article misstated Scott's name; this version has been corrected.)

When the riot erupted, Scott said, "it was the first time I ever feared for my life." He locked himself and several patrons inside the caf�, then watched the violence unfold through the windows. 'There's no doubt that the majority of people involved in the attacks were black street kids," he said. "The city and the cops don't want to say that, because if it's the truth, they have a powder keg on their hands."

P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 206-615-1246 or lewiskamb@seattle-pi.com