After Darryl Doles allegedly ransacked three liquor stores owned by Asian Americans in Baltimore and bashed two Korean sisters in the head with a cinder block, he was asked why he hurt them.
“They need to go back to their country,” said Doles, according to a grand jury indictment. “I’ll order out before I eat that mother------- food.”
A Baltimore grand jury indicted the 49-year-old Monday on 22 criminal charges including attempted murder, hate crimes, assault and destruction of property.
Baltimore’s top elected leaders gathered outside the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse downtown to announce the additional charges. Doles was arrested immediately after the attacks, but faced only assault, weapons charges and destruction of property.
City leaders including the mayor, council president, state’s attorney and police commissioner came together to send a message.
“Hate has no place in our city,” Mayor Brandon Scott said. “My administration has no tolerance for racially motivated acts of discrimination and hate crimes. ... We will be a city for everyone.”
The attack on Hy-Shin Williams, 67, and her sister, Hye-kyong Yun, 66, was captured by surveillance cameras and seen widely across the city. The sisters were left bruised and bleeding from their faces and heads. Both women were hospitalized and continue to suffer headaches and dizziness, according to the indictment. A plastic surgeon was needed to stitch closed one of the gashes to Williams’ head. An online fundraiser collected more than $84,000 for them.
News of the additional charges against their alleged attacker was welcomed by Dr. Tony Du, an epidemiologist in Howard County and former board director of the Chinese America Parent Association there.
“It is very encouraging ... the public needs to see the consequences. Not just, OK, somebody committed a hate crime, but nothing really happened,” Du said. “We see how many people get hurt, but we don’t see real punishment.”
The attacks followed the wave of anti-Asian sentiment that has surfaced since the coronavirus outbreak last year. Across Maryland, Asian Americans say they have been accosted and blamed for the virus. In Howard County, police were investigating a string of burglaries at Asian-American restaurants. Gov. Larry Hogan has said his Korean-American wife, Yumi, and their daughters have felt the sting of harassment. In March, six Asian women were gunned down at spas in Atlanta.
“What we’ve all borne witness to over the past year is resentment over coronavirus restrictions, which have unleashed a tidal wave of unjustified vicious assaults against Asian Americans across this nation,” State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said. “This misplaced anger and hatred toward our Asian American community members is disturbing, unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the City of Baltimore.”
Doles faces life in prison if convicted. The Northeast Baltimore man remains held without bail.
His attorney, Staci Pipkin, said Doles has suffered poor mental health and addiction throughout his life. She accused Mosby of grandstanding — elevating the charges not because of any new evidence but because of attention from news reporters.
“Unfortunately, we have seen that office overcharge cases on a regular basis simply because they want press attention,” Pipkin said. “There is no new evidence presented since the time that the SAO [state’s attorney’s office] chose to initially charge this as an assault. It was only after this case made the news that these charges were added, increasing the penalties dramatically.”
Pipkin said Mosby’s comments will cause the public to condemn Doles prematurely, making it difficult for him to receive a fair trial.
Doles is accused of carrying out a rampage at three liquor stores owned by Asian-Americans in Baltimore beginning around 11:30 p.m. May 2. First, he went into Linden Discount Liquors on North Avenue to use the lottery machine, but he was told to leave because he wasn’t wearing a face mask, according to the indictment.
“Doles grew angry, threw the lottery machine on the ground, kicked it across the store, and walked out,” according to the indictment.
He returned about 10 minutes later, carrying a 2-by-4 piece of lumber. Doles took a full swing and hit the security guard in his ribs before the owner managed to pull the piece of lumber away and Doles took off, according to the indictment.
Minutes later, Doles walked into 40/40 Liquors on Pennsylvania Avenue, kicked a display window and knocked down wine bottles before walking out, according to the indictment. The owner followed Doles out and told him not to come back.
“Doles turned around and said ‘F--- Chinese,’” according to the indictment.
Then he confronted Williams a block away in Wonder Land Liquors on Pennsylvania Avenue. He started kicking the display window and knocking things over before she ordered him to leave and called 911, according to the indictment. When she went to lock the door behind him, he appeared with the cinder block.
“Doles grabbed Williams by the hair and pushed her face to the ground. Williams tried to get the block out of Doles’ left hand, but he pulled it away while kneeling on top of Williams and struck her three times to the head with the block,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Williams’ sister, Yun, ran to help her.
“But Doles hit her once in the head with the block the moment she tried to grab him,” prosecutors wrote.
As the injured sisters tried to push him out of the store, Doles hit them both in the head again, according to the indictment.
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“Yun crawled away and got up as Doles drug Williams by her hair, on the ground, back into the store. Yun managed to get the block away from Doles and pushed him out of the store,” prosecutors wrote.
On Monday, Jessica Sol, president of the Korean Society of Baltimore County, said she hopes the sisters get justice. Too often, she said, crimes against Asian Americans are brushed aside.
Meanwhile, Hogan convened a group led by former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur to recommend ways to stem the violence and discrimination against Asian Americans in Maryland. Hate crimes targeting the state’s Asian families more than doubled in the past three years, according to the governor’s office.
Hur also joins a group of lawyers called the Alliance for Asian American Justice volunteering to represent victims of anti-Asian hate. He represents Williams and Yun, and called the additional charges against Doles a step to justice.
“Charges like the ones brought today are important in the context of the specific case, of course, but hate crime laws also serve an important purpose in sending a message to our community, our society, saying we condemn this type of behavior, it will not be tolerated and will be punished,” he said.
Police arrested Doles that night about six blocks from the liquor store where the sisters were beaten. That’s when the bystander asked Doles why he hurt Williams and Yun.
““They f----- your country up, but you still love them. F--- outta here,” he said according to the indictment. “I won’t eat sh-- out their mother-------stores.”