A woman in Seattle says a stranger attacked her without warning, biting into her forehead and tearing away a piece of skin during an encounter that began with racial slurs.
“I knew she was biting me,” Diana Gonzalez told local ABC affiliate KOMO. “I didn’t know she was biting through the skin.”
Gonzalez said the attack happened Sept. 18 while she was on her work break, walking through downtown Seattle toward a 7-Eleven on Third Avenue. That’s when, according to Gonzalez, 36-year-old Kamilia Chadli approached her, hurling trash, spitting on her and screaming racial slurs.
“Whatever state of mind she was in, she just kept telling me I was an inferior race,” Gonzalez recalled to KOMO.
What started as an unprovoked verbal assault escalated into a physical struggle on the steps of the Arctic Club Hotel, Gonzalez said. Police say Chadli grabbed her and bit down on her forehead during the altercation.
“I was assaulted in downtown Seattle in a hate crime while walking to a convenience store near my work,” Gonzalez wrote in a description accompanying a GoFundMe page set up in the aftermath. “A stranger targeted me with racist and homophobic slurs, pulled me to the ground, and bit a piece of my face off. I was taken to the hospital, and I am now living with permanent injuries that require surgery.”
Chadli has since been charged with second-degree assault, though as of Tuesday no hate crime charge had been filed. Gonzalez told KOMO she believes that additional charge is warranted given what she experienced.
“Racially motivated violence can happen to anyone,” she said.
Authorities caught up with Chadli as she attempted to board a bus, and she was taken into custody. She’s currently being held on $150,000 bail.
According to court records reviewed by KOMO, Chadli has had numerous prior run-ins with Seattle police and has previously been placed under emergency hold for psychiatric evaluation.
A judge has since ordered that Chadli undergo a mental health evaluation as the case moves forward.
Gonzalez, for her part, isn’t convinced Chadli’s behavior stemmed purely from a mental health crisis. “She knew enough to flee the scene,” she told KOMO. “She knew enough to go to the bus stop to try to get on the bus. She knew enough to lie, and I’m pretty sure she knows enough not to be in jail speaking that way.”
