WASHINGTON — The driver charged with threatening to harm a D.C. elementary school crossing guard after yelling anti-Hispanic slurs had been ordered to turn over his guns in one of several earlier Maryland protective and peace orders.
Lionel Kevin Hyater, 55, of Bethesda is due to make his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court Friday afternoon on a felony threat and stalking count. He was arrested Thursday.
D.C. police said Hyater was stopped at an intersection in the 5500 block of Broad Branch Road Northwest, Monday afternoon, when he threatened to shoot and run over the crossing guard, after directing anti-Hispanic remarks at the guard, near Lafayette Elementary School.
“I should run you over. Why are you here? You aren’t even legal, I should report you. I should have shot you when I was a Marine across the border,” the crossing guard recalls hearing from the suspect.
Online court records show Hyater had been previously arrested for several violent crimes and was named in four protective and peace orders in Maryland between 2010 and 2017. After he turned himself in, Hyater admitted, “I am the one y’all have been looking for”, but said he didn’t have a gun and didn’t threaten to shoot the crossing guard.
In a 2010 Prince George’s County protective order sought in a domestic violence complaint, Hyater was ordered to surrender his firearms and not abuse the victim. The details of the protective order were not immediately available in the court clerk’s office.
The other civil restraining orders were filed in Montgomery, Carroll and Frederick counties.
In criminal cases, Hyater had been arrested in the District in 1994 for kidnapping, in 1997 for unlawful entry, 2007 for unlawful entry and in 2014 for assault and attempted theft.
D.C. prosecutors never tried Hyater in any but the 2007 case. In that instance, Hyater completed a court-approved diversion program and the charge was dropped.
In a 2014 Frederick County case, prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor assault charge, but Hyater was found guilty of resisting arrest and placed on one year’s supervised probation.
A Facebook post, apparently from Hyater, said he spoke to the security guard because “he was doing it wrong,” and “he is illegal.” Paraphrasing the post, Hyater said what he said “not to harm anybody,” but he wanted “to protect the kids that need a real crossing guard.”
