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Friday, November 7, 2008

Prosecutors File Hate Crime Charges In Election Night Attack

posted by on November 7 at 15:10 PM

King County Prosecutors have rush-filed hate crime charges against a California man for assaulting a cab driver on election night.

Around 11 pm on November 4th, just hours after Seattle residents took to the streets to celebrate Obama’s big win, prosecutors say Danny Rube Fields climbed into a cab outside of the Boxcar Ale House in Interbay and told the driver to head to Ballard.

Minutes into the cab ride, court documents say Fields began shouting “bullshit, idiot, you don’t belong in this country. This is not your country” at the cab driver. Records do not indicate the race or the national origin of the cab driver.

As the cab crossed the Ballard Bridge, court records say Fields screamed “go back to your fucking country, you idiot” and began punching the driver in the back of the head.

“We were on the bridge. I was scared he might have a knife or a gun. I was driving, I was afraid, I told him to please stop,” the cabbie later told police.

The driver pulled into a Safeway parking lot and called police to report the assault. Coincidentally, police also received an anonymous call from another man who told police he was in the Safeway parking lot and claimed cab driver was threatening to shoot him.

Police arrived and questioned the driver and Fields. Fields denied making the call and no gun was found in the cab.

The cabbie told officers he would be willing to ignore the assault if Fields paid his fare. Instead of handing over the fare, Fields began screaming “I’m not paying that prick a fucking dime.”

Police arrested Fields and took him to the North Precinct. On the way, Fields told officers “Yeah, you like helping that nigger. I’m an American.”

RSS icon Comments

1

"The cabbie told officers he would be willing to ignore the assault if Fields paid his fare."

Cabbies are tough motherfuckers.

Posted by Dougsf | November 7, 2008 3:16 PM
2

His middle name is literally Rube.

Posted by David Schmader | November 7, 2008 3:19 PM
3

it is not wise to punch someone who is also driving the vehicle you are in. What a stupid douche bag.

Posted by danhowes | November 7, 2008 3:20 PM
4

Drunk, crazy, or both. This guy needs help.

Posted by Greg | November 7, 2008 3:34 PM
5

Oh man, something like this happened either in Portland or Detroit, I can't remember-- but they seriously started wailing on the back of the driver's head.

Posted by AJ | November 7, 2008 3:36 PM
6

Oh, the last one was here, that guy Singh who got beat in the back of the head.

Why does that always happen in Seattle? Maybe cabs here should be redesigned to prevent back-of-head punching

Posted by AJ | November 7, 2008 3:38 PM
7

@1 is right. As is @4.

He'll probably plead temporary insanity.

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 7, 2008 3:43 PM
8

@7 temporary insanity? maybe, but i don't think having your worst racist fears realized is grounds for insanity. the guy is a fucking idiot and should have the book thrown at him.

Posted by douglas | November 7, 2008 3:50 PM
9

Put him wherever we're putting those Tuba-Man killing kids. Let them forever crawl on their bellies and eat dust together.

I'm seriously going to look into the legality of banishment. I think it's something we should be taking a lot more seriously as a state.

Posted by Matthew | November 7, 2008 4:01 PM
10

For the first time in my adult life, I'm proud to be an American.

Thanks, Rube!

Posted by NapoleonXIV | November 7, 2008 4:04 PM
11

@8 - I didn't say any sane judge would buy that ...

Look to the news coverage on Q13 ... Fox News.

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 7, 2008 4:21 PM
12

This kind of incident makes my blood boil. What a complete fucking asshole.

If he had put his ignorance aside and actually talked to the guy, he would have found out that cab drivers are some coolest guys around. Always interested in politics, the world, family...good things.

I hope this dick prick asshole fuck gets the book thrown at him.

Posted by Damien | November 7, 2008 4:26 PM
13

Hopefully(fingers crossed)... hate crimes get punishments leading to some penitentiary time, so he can spend some time with real criminals that will beat the crap out of him and maybe even put a "shank" in him. LMAO!

Posted by tWistEd | November 7, 2008 10:09 PM
14

I listened carefully late tuesday night and heard Walt Disney and The Duke gently rolling in their' graves..
But seriously, all the racist bigots I know were particularly upset there were no riots on tuesday night, and seemed genuinely surprised the sun rose wednesday morning. Here in Chicago most cabbies have bulletproof plexiglas separators, you'd bust your knuckles pulling that kind of crap. Plus a substantial percentile are packing a bit of heat, because they're too easy a target. Not much cabbie violence hence, just don't be a wife... They don't have real good odds in these parts, and actually that's anti-lol.///

Posted by madmanMikey | November 8, 2008 6:47 PM

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