Seattle Man Accused of Assaulting Trans Woman

A Seattle man was charged Thursday with malicious harassment under Washington's hate-crime statute after police said he yelled a derogatory slur at a transgender woman and assaulted her.

A witness reported 51-year-old Daniel Patrick Woodward yelling at the victim at a bus stop Sunday and punching her several times, after which the witness followed him as he walked into a nearby store and later pointed him out to police officers.

In addition to the assault, Woodward is accused of telling the victim she "ought to die and go to hell," according to court documents.

"The suspect appeared intoxicated and had a strong odor of intoxicants," Officer Trung Nguyen wrote in an incident report. "He would not respond to my questions of whether he understood his rights."

The victim was identified as a man in a police report. A police spokeswoman clarified that the victim identifies as a woman.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the victim was ashamed that someone would assault her based on gender, police said. Nguyen photographed the victim's injuries and said she did not fight back.

Woodward's arraignment for the malicious harassment charge is scheduled for June 17. He is being held in a county jail on an unrelated felony warrant.

Court records show Woodward was previously convicted of malicious harassment in 2003. In 2004 he was convicted of assault and a drug charge. In 2007 police caught Woodward with crack under a viaduct.