One year after a young Black boy was violently attacked by a white man in Washington, he is finally getting justice. But although Paul Jonathan Bittner is facing jail, his family said the sentence is not enough.
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A group of students from Whatcom Middle School in Bellingham, Wash. were returning from a school field trip back in June 2024. That’s when prosecutors said Bittner approached an 11-year-old Black student and punched him in the face.
If that wasn’t enough, the 43-year-old then shoved him to the ground, resulting in the young student chipping his tooth and injuring his nose, according to KIRO 7 News Seattle. Before he ran away from the scene, Bittner reportedly yelled “Are you gonna talk to a white man like that?!”
A teacher, who witnessed the attack, began chasing after Bittner. He was eventually apprehended by police. During his arrest, the white man continued to yell racial slurs, according to the Tri-City Herald. He was then charged with malicious harassment and the assault of a child in the second degree.
“We are angry and shocked by what happened today,” the school’s Principal Mischelle Darragh initially said. “These events are extremely upsetting for everyone at our school and beyond. We are wrapping around our students and doing all we can to support them.”
Bittner had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and deemed not competent to stand trial in a previous evaluation, we reported. “It’s unclear how much he understood the charges and allegations, while his refusal to discuss them certainly seems to be a notable factor,” court documents read.
The child’s father, DeVante Blow told The Bellingham Herald last year, “The toughest part about this is that my son was doing nothing. Nothing wrong. And was attacked. Attacked because of his skin color. Because he didn’t look like his attacker.”
On Tuesday (July 15), the 43-year-old pleaded guilty to the hate crime. He’s been sentenced to 41 months behind bars. Blow, told The Bellingham Herald, “I’m feeling as if justice was served and the community is safer,” after Bittner’s sentencing. Still, there’s work to be done. “That doesn’t solve the problem, so we need to solve the problem at the core,” Blow continued. “And I believe we’re headed that way.”
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