A 21-year-old Vancouver woman appeared Friday in Clark County Superior Court after allegedly attacking a Black man unprovoked on the bus and using a racial slur.
Kameryn L. Wilson was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault and malicious harassment, a hate crime offense in Washington.
Clark County Jail booking records note that Wilson has “known, stated or observed mental health problems.”
Judge John Fairgrieve set bail in the case at $50,000. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Vancouver police were dispatched around 3:30 p.m. Thursday to Northeast 65th Avenue and Fourth Plain Boulevard for a report of an assault on a C-Tran bus.
When officers arrived, they found the victim seated on the bus, hunched over and struggling to breathe, according to the affidavit. He said he was sitting on the bus, not engaging with anyone, when Wilson began striking him from behind. Then, she started choking him, he said, preventing him from breathing, the affidavit says.
Wilson, who is white, was sitting at the back of the bus when officers arrived. Police asked her what happened, and she responded, “That (racial slur) deserved it,” the affidavit reads. An officer escorted Wilson off the bus, and while doing so, she turned away from the officer and tried to kick the victim, the affidavit says.
In a separate pending case, Wilson was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a registered nurse at the VA Vancouver Medical Center campus on Oct. 8.
