Current:Home > BackMassachusetts driver who repeatedly hit an Asian American man gets 18 months in prison-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Massachusetts driver who repeatedly hit an Asian American man gets 18 months in prison
View Date:2024-12-25 23:50:35
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for threatening to kill a group of Asian Americans and repeatedly hitting one of them with his car.
John Sullivan, a white man in his late 70s, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in April to a federal hate crime, specifically charges of willfully causing bodily injury to a victim through the use of a dangerous weapon because of his actual and perceived race and national origin.
“Racially motivated and hate-fueled attacks have no place in our society,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “This defendant targeted this man solely because he was Asian American. This behavior will not be tolerated, and the Justice Department is steadfast in its commitment to vigorously prosecute those who commit unlawful acts of hate.”
In December 2022, Sullivan encountered a group of Asian Americans including children outside a Quincy post office. He yelled “go back to China” and threatened to kill them before repeatedly hitting one of them, a Vietnamese man, with his car. Prosecutors said the victim fell into a construction ditch and was injured.
There had been a dramatic spike in verbal, physical and online attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which was thought to have originated in China. Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center, documented over 9,000 incidents — mostly self-reported by victims — between March 2020 and June 2021. Last year, the FBI reported a 7% increase in overall hate crimes in 2022, even as the agency’s data showed anti-Asian incidents in 2022 were down 33% from 2021.
Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen, of the FBI Boston Field Office, said all Massachusetts communities “deserve respect and the ability to live, work, and raise their children without fear.”
“A run of the mill trip to the post office turned into a nightmare for this Vietnamese man when John Sullivan decided to target him because of the color of his skin and the country of his ancestors,” Cohen said in a statement. “There is no way to undo the damage Mr. Sullivan caused with his hateful, repulsive and violent behavior, but hopefully today’s sentence provides some measure of comfort.”
Sullivan’s defense attorney, in a sentencing memorandum, argued that his client should not be judged solely on this one act. They had requested six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release.
“There are bad people who do bad things and good people that do a bad thing,” the attorney wrote in the sentencing memorandum. “Jack Sullivan is a good person who made a bad decision on the date of this offense. Jack will suffer the consequences of his poor decision. His background suggests his behavior in this case was an aberration and not the norm for him.”
veryGood! (91)
Related
- Louisiana man kills himself and his 1-year-old daughter after a pursuit
- Passage: Iris Apfel, Richard Lewis and David Culhane
- EAGLEEYE COIN: Privacy Coin: A Digital Currency to Protect Personal Privacy
- Why Dakota Johnson Says She'll Never Do Anything” Like Madame Web Again
- Watch as massive amount of crabs scamper across Australian island: 'It's quite weird'
- Ex-college track coach to be sentenced for tricking women into sending nude photos
- Man freed from prison after 34 years after judge vacates conviction in 1990 murder
- 16 and Pregnant Star Sean Garinger’s Ex Selena Gutierrez Speaks Out on His Death
- Republican Vos reelected as Wisconsin Assembly speaker despite losing seats, fights with Trump
- Largest wildfire in Texas history caused by downed power pole, lawsuit alleges
Ranking
- Trump hammered Democrats on transgender issues. Now the party is at odds on a response
- Busta Rhymes cancels all 2024 Blockbusta tour dates a week before kickoff
- Love Is Blind's Chelsea Shares What Wasn’t Shown in Jimmy Romance
- Pregnant Lala Kent Says She’s Raising Baby No. 2 With This Person
- GM recalling big pickups and SUVs because the rear wheels can lock up, increasing risk of a crash
- Why is a 'Glee' song from 14 years ago topping Billboard charts?
- LSU's Jayden Daniels brushes aside anti-Patriots NFL draft rumors with single emoji
- Kylie Jenner announces line of 100-calorie canned vodka sodas called Sprinter
Recommendation
-
Taylor Swift gifts 7-year-old '22' hat after promising to meet her when she was a baby
-
Taylor Swift baked homemade Pop-Tarts for Chiefs players. Now the brand wants her recipe.
-
A man who crashed a snowmobile into a parked Black Hawk helicopter is suing the government for $9.5M
-
Combined reward in case of missing Wisconsin boy rises to $25,000
-
NYC bans unusual practice of forcing tenants to pay real estate brokers hired by landlords
-
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Noah Kahan to headline Sea.Hear.Now festival
-
Andre Agassi Serves Up Rare Insight Into His and Steffi Graff’s Winning Marriage
-
One of the world's most populated cities is nearly out of water as many go days if not weeks without it