After WSU Trump supporter assaulted over hat, Judge sends attacker to jail

A former Washington State University (WSU) teaching assistant has been sentenced after violently attacking a student for wearing a Donald Trump hat.

Patrick Mahoney, who was fired from WSU after the incident but still remains a student, was sentenced to one week in jail and a year of probation. The case stems from a March confrontation where Mahoney ripped student Jay Sani’s Trump hat off his head, forcing Sani to the ground. Mahoney pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault.

Sani told police Mahoney then punched him in the jaw and slammed his head onto the concrete.

“He essentially grabbed my head, crushed my head on the concrete,” Sani told The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red 770 AM in an exclusive interview. “It gave me that flashback of propaganda posts I would see online, like ‘Crush the head of the fascist.’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is serious.'”

‘Unprovoked act of violence’

The judge called Mahoney’s actions “an unprovoked act of violence.” Mahoney later admitted to the judge that his actions were impulsive.

“It was an impulsive decision I made in a two-second window that I shouldn’t have made,” he said, according to The Spokesman Review.

Mahoney was charged with misdemeanor fourth-degree assault. A university spokesperson told The Seattle Times that while the school supports free expression, “we will not tolerate acts of violence or hate speech.”

The judge ordered Mahoney to pay $30 to Sani as restitution, and an additional $560 to the Washington State Crime Victims Compensation Program. Mahoney’s one-year probation will include completing a mental health evaluation, which includes anger management.

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