Spokane man, 21, arrested in assault on LC student

A Lewis and Clark High School student was attacked and kicked in the head Wednesday in what Spokane police called a hate crime.

The assault occurred across the street from the school during the student’s lunch hour.

Officers arrived about 11:30 a.m. to discover an injured male, who was taken to a hospital, treated and released.

Police arrested a 21-year-old man walking three blocks away.

Tyson Leroy Brown of Spokane was booked into jail on suspicion of malicious harassment, a Class C felony hate crime. Brown also had an unrelated warrant from Oregon, according to a Spokane police news release. The victim is white, and the alleged attacker is black, school officials said.

Brown has four convictions on his criminal record for malicious harassment, robbery, assault and theft, according to the news release. Police had no further details.

Lewis and Clark Principal Jon Swett prepared a note to be sent home with all students saying that the “unsettling incident” appeared to be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“It appears the LC student was chosen randomly,” Swett stated in the note. He also asked parents to remind their students to be particularly careful when they leave campus.

“Lunch is served daily at Lewis and Clark; leaving campus is a decision parents and students need to make together,” Swett wrote.

Freshman Sage Howard said he saw the crowd and the flashing police lights in a place referred to by his friends as “the bridge.”

Howard said it’s common to see students gathering there during lunch, some of them smoking cigarettes. He didn’t get a close look at the incident.

“It’s not my policy to go under the bridge and smoke,” Howard said Wednesday.