MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. — After a hit-and-run in Maple Valley, the victims' family and advocates are calling on police to investigate the incident as a hate crime.
The hit-and-run happened Thursday afternoon near the Four Corners shopping area as two Muslim women were walking with a baby in a stroller.
According to court records, a mother and grandma were walking on the sidewalk and going across the exit of a parking lot pushing a stroller with an infant inside when witnesses said they believed a driver intentionally ran into them.
“She literally saw her life about to end,” said Aamer, the uncle of one of the victims.
In court documents, witnesses said the driver was stopped and accelerated when the woman walked in front of him.
The grandma had serious injuries and has since been released from the hospital. The mom had non-life-threatening injuries and is still in the hospital with more surgeries needed, and the baby was not harmed.
“She pushed the stroller so that it would be out of their area of impact,” said Aamer. “So, she clearly saw this car coming at them high speed, intentionally, deliberately.”
The women were wearing hijabs, and the family is demanding Maple Valley police investigate this as a hate crime.
“This poor, innocent baby has just come into this world, and he's probably the youngest victim of such kind of an attack, of a hate crime,” said Aamer. “And that just breaks my heart, it really does.”
The head of CAIR-Washington, which is a chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, went and visited the mosque the women attended. He said people in the community are very shaken by what happened. He also visited the women in the hospital.
“She outlined for me what happened, and in her mind, it is very clear that this was based off of anti-Muslim sentiment,” said Imraan Siddiqi, the executive director of CAIR-Washington.
Siddiqi is glad police arrested the suspect quickly but said they need to peel back the layers to find motivating factors.
“You can tell if a person is a Muslim when they are walking down the street. Now you see two women who are walking with a stroller, I've been through many traffic situations here in Seattle, I've never come close to even making contact with a person,” said Siddiqi. “So, what causes an individual to accelerate their car and veer in the direction of the people that are walking with a stroller with a 5-month-old child?”
Maple Valley police and the King County Sheriff's Office said the case is still active and open but that, at this time, evidence does not indicate this was a hate crime.
The family and advocates like CAIR-Washington said they need Maple Valley police to look seriously into the possibility.
“I just hope that justice is served,” said Aamer.
Court records show about 10 minutes later, the same man is accused of hitting another pedestrian in a different parking lot nearby. That pedestrian had non-life-threatening injuries and refused medical treatment.
Court records show that the suspect said he was having steering trouble and he denied hitting anyone or anything, despite having damage to his car.
He told police that he had schizophrenia and started medication the week before. Police said the man was known to them due to them having to respond to multiple mental health calls regarding the suspect in the past.
The suspect had his first court appearance Friday, Sept. 13 and the court set bail at $250,000 and ordered no driving and no contact with the victims.
He has not yet been charged but was arrested on suspicion of assault and felony hit-and-run in connection with this incident.