Man gets 54-month sentence for hate crime knife attack on Black woman on Seattle bus

A Washington man was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to a federal hate crime for a racially motivated knife attack on a Black woman aboard a King County Metro bus, the Justice Department announced.

Adan Hernandez-Mayoral was sentenced for using a knife to cause bodily injury to the victim because of her race and color, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, Hernandez-Mayoral boarded a King County Metro bus on March 7, 2024, and immediately began making racially charged comments targeting Black people. He singled out a Black female passenger, yelling that he hated Black people and referring to the woman as “Rosa Parks” while ordering her to move to the back of the bus, court documents show.

When the woman tried to move away from him, Hernandez-Mayoral followed her while concealing a knife behind his back, according to prosecutors. As the bus stopped and its doors opened, he grabbed the woman, pushed her off the bus and into a fence, and began beating her across her body. He stomped on her after she fell to the ground, then repeatedly stabbed her with the knife, court documents state. A thick coat the victim was wearing spared her from more severe injuries. Hernandez-Mayoral fled the scene but was arrested later that evening by officers from the Kent Police Department.

“Today, we have delivered justice with the sentencing of Adan Hernandez-Mayoral for his brutal, racially motivated attack on the victim,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Dhillon added that such assaults “destroy our communities by breeding fear and distrust of public places and facilities” and said the department would continue aggressively prosecuting such cases.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd for the Western District of Washington said racially motivated attacks “shock the conscience of our community” and pledged to hold those who commit them accountable.

FBI Seattle Field Office Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington said the victim “was minding her own business on a familiar public transit route” when she was targeted and attacked, while Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla called the assault “horrific and deeply disturbing.”

Hernandez-Mayoral pleaded guilty on Dec. 23, 2025, to hate crime causing bodily injury.

The case was investigated by the Kent Police Department and the FBI. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica M. Manca for the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Tenette Smith of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, with assistance from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.