A Scottsdale man who was brutally stabbed by a neighbor is calling for a hate crime charge.
Local activist Jarrett Maupin said Wednesday that 58-year-old Thomas Williams, who is black, alleges the white suspect used racial slurs while stabbing him with a knife three times in the stomach and leg.
Williams said the attack started after he walked outside and heard another man yelling "call 911, call 911." He explained that he dialed 911 and left his apartment unit to see what was happening. Suddenly, the man turned on him and began calling him racial slurs.
"'You n*****, you broke in my girlfriend's house and you raped her,'" said Williams, describing what the man yelled at him. "And he pulls a knife and he stabs me [in the stomach]."
Scottsdale police say they found Williams on Jan. 26 bleeding profusely with wounds in the abdomen and thigh at an apartment complex.
Williams ran from the scene.
"I slipped and I fell in the grass. He cut me again across my leg. So I happened to kick him off," said Williams. "I was not going out like that."
He dove under a truck.
"He did reach under and he poked me one more time in my back. And that's when the knife broke," said Williams. "He's yelling, 'come from under that truck n*****.' A lot of n-words coming at me and he's circling the truck like a predator."
Witnesses identified 30-year-old Keaton Formica, who was at the scene, as the attacker.
In charging documents, authorities do not mention racial epithets but say Formica showed signs of mental illness.
Williams thinks it was something else.
"He showed a lot of hatred toward me," said Williams. "I really think he should be charged with a hate crime as well."
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery says there is no state hate crime statute. But his office is still reviewing the case and may seek a stiffer penalty for a crime committed with extreme malice.
