Hate crime charges: Man spit at, stabbed gay couple holding hands on Capitol Hill

SEATTLE -- A man has been charged with a hate crime after he allegedly yelled derogatory slurs, spit in the face and stabbed a man for holding hands with another man on Capitol Hill.

Castor Kwak, 33, is charged with one count of malicious harassment in King County Superior Court. He is being held in jail on $50,000 bail.

Shortly after 10:00 p.m.  on July 22, the two victims were walking together at the intersection of 12th and Pine in Seattle when they were approached by Kwak, who yelled an anti-gay slur, the Seattle Police Department said. The couple kept walking, but Kwak allegedly yelled more slurs.

The couple approached Kwak over the slurs and a verbal altercation ensued, police said. As bystanders held Kwak and the victims apart, Kwak allegedly spit in one the victim's faces. The victim then punched Kwak, and the two engaged in a physical fight.

Kwak was holding a glass bottle during the fight that broke on the ground. He allegedly used pieces of the broken bottle to stab the victim as the two fell into a nearby bush.

A Seattle police officer passing by noticed the fight and broke it up. He found the victim with cuts to his face and body, but he refused to be taken to the hospital.

Kwak allegedly told the cop he attacked the couple unprovoked because they were gay. He was treated at Harborview Medical Center for some cuts and then booked into the King County Jail.

The altercation happened directly in front of the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct.