KING COUNTY, Wash. — After being attacked by another passenger, a Seattle man said he will try to avoid having to take a King County Metro Bus. The vicious assault happened Sunday, Sept. 29, in First Hill near James Street and 8th Avenue as soon as he got on the bus.
"I don't even have time to put away my card or phone and all of a sudden, this homeless person starts attacking," the man, who wants to remain anonymous, said. "They were body slamming me, punching, hitting me, scratching. They even bit me to the point of bleeding."
"It was just this nonstop onslaught for what honestly felt like an eternity. I tried to shout for help, but there was really no one on the bus other than another homeless person who obviously didn't want to get involved and the driver who seemed to not care really," he said.
The physical marks left behind are equally as jarring as the mental toll this has taken on him. He said he was attacked because he is Asian-American.
"The racial element to this really struck a chord with me. In the 20+ years of my life, I've never heard such violent language," he said. "They started coming at me and screaming really insanely racist stuff at me."
A recent study revealed many Asian Americans in Seattle don't feel safe in public. Almost two in five people surveyed said they'd been a victim of an anti-Asian incident in the past 12 months. Twenty percent of them had been physically attacked. The stats didn't surprise the victim in this story.
"Honestly, it's probably the case my story is not a unique one," he said.
For him, however, surviving this attack isn't the end. He reflected on how if he had been someone more vulnerable than a guy in 20s, they may not have survived the brutal beating.
"I've been to many, many different places, cities, countries. I really can't think of another place where something like this would happen, where I'd get targeted for my race. That's a really terrifying thought growing up in this country," he said.
He and his friends plan to avoid the bus system.
"You can't allow people to just live in fear every time they try to take a bus or any kind of public transit," he said. "You know the person that attacked me obviously has some blame, right, but it's really the whole system that's failed us."
He'd like King County Metro to give drivers more discretion over who they allow on.
"King Country Metro on their website says their number one mission is passenger safety, yet it seems like the policies and the ways things are enforced make it not possible," he said. "There needs to be some level of accountability and ways for the drivers to enforce safety for all passengers. Whether that means denying boarding to dangerous passengers, I think that's something that needs to be taken into account."
Over the last several years, King County Metro has worked to respond to passenger safety concerns. Over the past two years, the agency doubled its Transit Security Offers to 160. Monthly boarding by officers hit 10,000 in November 2023, according to the latest numbers available. Metro has also partnered with King County’s Department of Community & Human Services to send out behavioral health specialists.
KING 5 asked the agency about this passenger being attacked, but because of the ongoing investigation, they cannot comment.
The King County Sheriff's Office said it's an active, open investigation. The case is assigned to an experienced detective with the King County Sheriff's Office Metro Transit division. KCSO said its thoughts are with the victim. The agency did not share a description of the attacker.