WASHINGTON — The D.C. police are investigating a reported assault in the Georgetown section as a possible hate crime.
Police said in a statement that two people got into a verbal dispute in the 1200 block of Wisconsin Avenue Northwest, a block north of M Street, when one of them hit the other with a bike lock.
Maxim Smith, 24, of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, while the victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The police said they are investigating the assault as “being motivated by hate or bias,” saying Smith “made derogatory statements to the victim.”
Police added that that designation may change, or prosecutors may decline to prosecute the case that way.
Lawyer Lee Merritt said in a statement that he was representing the victim, and that the altercation started when Smith was on his bike in the middle of M Street and not moving. The victim “tapped” his car horn, Merritt said, and drove around Smith, who allegedly hit the victim’s car with his bike lock.
When the victim called 911, Merritt said, Smith began taunting him, shouting, “What are you going to do?” and adding a racial slur at the victim, who Merritt said is of Cameroonian descent.
Merritt added that Smith tried to steal the driver’s car, and the driver held onto Smith ‘s bike frame to keep him from getting away after Smith hit him with the lock while the police arrived.
The lawyer said the driver needed 18 stitches to close a wound on the top of his head from the bike lock.
Referring to the white nationalist rally scheduled for D.C. this weekend, Merritt said, “Random, unprovoked acts of violence against people of color have already begun.”
