Seattle, WA. — A 24-year-old Auburn man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to committing a hate crime involving bodily injury and the use of a dangerous weapon, federal prosecutors announced.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, Adan C. Hernandez-Mayoral admitted to a racially motivated assault on a Black woman riding a King County Metro bus on March 7, 2024. Charles Neil Floyd said Hernandez-Mayoral is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17, 2026, before James L. Robart.
Court records state that Hernandez-Mayoral made derogatory comments about Black people while riding the bus. When a Black woman looked toward him, he yelled at her not to look at him and continued making racist remarks, including calling her “Rosa Parks” and telling her to move to the back of the bus.
The woman walked to the front of the bus to call police, and Hernandez-Mayoral followed her. When the bus stopped, he pushed her off the bus and assaulted her, pulling out a knife and thrusting it repeatedly toward her abdomen before fleeing the scene. The woman was wearing a heavy coat, which prevented the knife from breaking her skin, but the attack nevertheless caused bodily injury.
As officers searched for the suspect, a nearby resident contacted police to report a man hiding in their yard. The clothing matched surveillance video from King County Metro. Hernandez-Mayoral was arrested hiding under a car a short distance from where the assault occurred.
Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than 57 months in federal prison, to be served concurrently with any sentence imposed in related cases in King County Superior and District courts. The sentencing recommendation is not binding, and Judge Robart may impose any sentence permitted by law.
The case was investigated by the Kent Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office assisted in the investigation and worked with federal prosecutors.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica M. Manca and Trial Attorney Tenette R. Smith of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
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