82-year-old Edmonds woman arrested on hate crime charges after attacking Trump supporters

EDMONDS, Wash. – An 82-year-old Edmonds woman was arrested Monday on a hate crime charge after attacking two Trump supporters, according to Edmonds police.

She has not been charged, but a judge on Tuesday found probable cause for a hate crime and two counts of fourth-degree assault. On Wednesday, newly released police body camera video showed the suspect explaining what happened to responding officers.

The 82-year-old told police: “I came up to you and said I wanted to know why you were voting for Trump. That’s the only thing. And. And I said because you’re brown-skinned.

The incident occurred the day before the election, just before 1 p.m., at the corner of SR104 and 100th Avenue West in Edmonds. Gina Powell said she was on the receiving end of the encounter. She told KOMO News she had never met the 82-year-old until she looked at her face and questioned her race and political beliefs.

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“I was just shocked at the presence of mind and she made it clear that it was the color of my skin,” Powell said.

She was with her friend Mary Jennings, whom she had met days earlier on the same street. The two and a small group of other supporters stood on the same street corner three days in a row before the presidential election. Both waved to pedestrians and drivers, raised signs, chanted and carried Trump flags.

They said they didn’t see the woman coming because they were distracted by another woman who stopped to ask the group about their position on abortion and reproductive rights. Jennings and Powell said they tried to comfort the woman because she started crying, even as the 82-year-old approached their group and confronted Powell about her skin color and her support for Donald Trump.

“And then she pushed me, pushed me back and I said don’t touch me. And then, not even a second, she just punched me right in the jaw,” Powell said.

The arrested woman, who has not been charged, told police she pushed her away and said she put her hand on Powell’s chin and pressed on her shoulder – emphasizing it wasn’t hard but saying, “I did.” done.” I did that. That’s when Jennings said she stepped between the two women.

“I said you have no right to touch anyone and she just said I did everything, was everything, it was barely like that, and she hit me, but she hit, and you know, it made my jaw drop,” Jennings said. Both women are physically fine, but it has taken an emotional toll.

“We won’t… not have made it. I couldn’t work yet. “I’m still kind of in shock,” an emotional Powell said.

Edmonds police said they had established probable cause for the hate crime arrest and that the “suspect continued to show no remorse for the incident and attempted to push an officer while demonstrating her behavior.”

“Not everyone on the left is right, not everyone on the right is right. However, both sides could bring important information to the center. We can, we must come together, we cannot continue the division,” Jennings said.

Both women said they would not be deterred by the incident and would proudly publicly support Trump.

“He got shot by a bullet and he said, ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ I got a little poke in my chin, so I’m not sitting down,” Powell said, referring to the Trump assassination attempt in Bulter County, Pennsylvania last July.

Prosecutors have until the end of the day on Thursday to make a charging decision.