Prosecutors have added a hate crime charge against a Burien man accused of attacking his neighbor with a metal baseball bat, a significant development in a case that has drawn widespread attention after surveillance video (also included below) captured the alleged assault outside the victim’s home.
Andy Dimitrov, 22, now faces charges of third-degree assault, third-degree harassment and hate crime offense in connection with the July 11 attack on neighbor Linda Irish, 60. The additional charge comes after prosecutors previously declined to pursue a hate crime allegation, saying there was insufficient evidence under Washington law. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has since amended the charges following a careful review of the case.
Irish, who is a lesbian, has maintained from the beginning that the attack was motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias. She told KIRO 7 News that she, her wife and their 10-year-old child were loading their vehicle outside their Burien home when they heard their neighbors threatening to kill one another from across the street on her porch.
“It was so loud even with the doors and windows closed,” Irish’s wife Sarah Brusig, 43, told The B-Town Blog. “This is a calm and peaceful neighborhood except for one house whose inhabitants are constantly arrested on domestic violence and assault charges. The police are literally at their home at least once a week. All of them have criminal records.”
Brusig said she heard the words, “I’m gonna get my gun and shoot you!” coming from Dimitrov inside the house as she stood outside of her own. Irish told Brusig and their daughter to get in the car and close the doors. She then stood in the street and yelled across to their neighbors to stop screaming. That’s when the door swung open and Dimitrov raced out, confronting Irish, calling her a “lesbian bitch” and adding, “I’m gonna kill you.”
“My child should not have to hear screaming about them wanting to kill each other every day,” Irish said. She said she spoke up to deescalate the situation, while simultaneously dialing local authorities as she had been instructed to do by Burien Police when these domestic disputes occurred as this family is well-known in the area.
Dimitrov turned about-face, ran into his house and came back across the street with a coat on and a metal baseball bat hidden inside. Irish, a licensed mental health counselor for over 30 years, said she thought they were going to have a discussion. Instead, he put his hand into his jacket, took out the bat he’d hidden, and attacked her.
“I thought he was pulling out a gun to shoot me in front of my wife and child,” Irish said. “I was scared. I thought I was dead.”
Home surveillance video obtained by KIRO 7 shows Dimitrov approaching Irish before swinging the bat and striking her below the shoulder blade. Irish said she spent the evening in the emergency department being imaged and now can hardly take a deep breath without her ribs hurting. She has been prescribed ongoing treatment, which includes physical therapy, repeated imaging, and medication for pain control.
The Chase
According to investigators, Dimitrov left the neighborhood with his father, Angel Dimitrov, immediately after the attack. Video footage shows the car running with his father ready to drive him away. Court documents say Dimitrov threw the baseball bat from the vehicle, damaging a parked car, and later called 911 three times, admitting to the assault and threatening to attack responding officers and burn City Hall.
Deputies later arrested Dimitrov at a sports bar, where court documents state he allegedly shoved another woman before he was taken into custody.
Hate Crime Enhancement
Irish told investigators and KIRO 7 that Dimitrov directed anti-gay slurs at her moments before the attack. A King County Sheriff’s Office deputy wrote in a probable cause certification that the incident met the legal criteria for a hate crime under Washington state law.
Washington state’s hate crime statute allows prosecutors to file charges when a person intentionally commits certain criminal acts because of their perception of another person’s protected characteristics, including sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, disability, ancestry or national origin.
When KIRO 7 spoke with Dimitrov’s father, he denied that his son’s assault was motivated by Irish’s sexual orientation. But added, “She doesn’t know who she is – lady or man?”
Dimitrov also attributed his son’s actions to mental health issues, saying, “He is crazy. What do you call it, mental problem?”
“His actions were calculated and hatefully motivated,” Irish said. “He knew exactly what he was doing. He came outside, yelled in my face in front of my home, called me a lesbian, then said he was going to kill me before he ran back into his house, put on a jacket, hid a metal baseball bat, and came out to strike me.”
Irish has said the attack has left her family fearful of remaining in their neighborhood, which she has lived in for most of her life.
“I need him to not come home. His dad has bailed him out and brought him home repeatedly,” she said. “I need him to not be here. I need him to not be in this neighborhood because we fear retaliation.”
Irish’s family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover medical expenses, legal fees and the cost of building a privacy fence around their home, saying the attack has left them feeling unsafe in their own neighborhood.
Video
Below is surveillance video of the attack, courtesy KIRO:
