One 12 months after a younger Black boy was violently attacked by a white man in Washington, he’s lastly getting justice. However though Paul Jonathan Bittner is going through jail, his household stated the sentence will not be sufficient.
A gaggle of scholars from Whatcom Center Faculty in Bellingham, Wash. had been coming back from a faculty subject journey again in June 2024. That’s when prosecutors stated Bittner approached an 11-year-old Black scholar and punched him within the face.
If that wasn’t sufficient, the 43-year-old then shoved him to the bottom, ensuing within the younger scholar chipping his tooth and injuring his nostril, in keeping with KIRO 7 Information Seattle. Earlier than he ran away from the scene, Bittner reportedly yelled “Are you gonna discuss to a white man like that?!”
A instructor, who witnessed the assault, started chasing after Bittner. He was ultimately apprehended by police. Throughout his arrest, the white man continued to yell racial slurs, in keeping with the Tri-Metropolis Herald. He was then charged with malicious harassment and the assault of a kid within the second diploma.
“We’re indignant and shocked by what occurred at the moment,” the varsity’s Principal Mischelle Darragh initially stated. “These occasions are extraordinarily upsetting for everybody at our college and past. We’re wrapping round our college students and doing all we will to help them.”
Bittner had been identified with schizophrenia and deemed not competent to face trial in a earlier analysis, we reported. “It’s unclear how a lot he understood the fees and allegations, whereas his refusal to debate them actually appears to be a notable issue,” court docket paperwork learn.
The kid’s father, DeVante Blow instructed The Bellingham Herald final 12 months, “The hardest half about that is that my son was doing nothing. Nothing flawed. And was attacked. Attacked due to his pores and skin shade. As a result of he didn’t seem like his attacker.”
On Tuesday (July 15), the 43-year-old pleaded responsible to the hate crime. He’s been sentenced to 41 months behind bars. Blow, instructed The Bellingham Herald, “I’m feeling as if justice was served and the group is safer,” after Bittner’s sentencing. Nonetheless, there’s work to be achieved. “That doesn’t remedy the issue, so we have to remedy the issue on the core,” Blow continued. “And I imagine we’re headed that means.”
Straight From 
Join our free each day publication.