Man sentenced to prison for calling Walmart employee racial slur, lunging at him with knife

A man who called a Spokane Valley Walmart employee a racial slur before lunging at him with a pocketknife was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for the hate crime and assault.

A jury earlier this month found Kurt C. Boerner, 53, guilty of second-degree assault, hate crime and custodial assault. The latter assault stemmed from when Boerner struck a Spokane County Jail corrections officer in the chest while being booked for the hate crime, according to court documents.

The Walmart employee was working at the electronics counter of the Broadway Avenue location on the afternoon of July 2 when Boerner, a customer, approached the employee and started mumbling toward him, according to the employee and other witnesses. The employee, who is Black, said he asked Boerner what he said, and Boerner repeated the racial slur.

Boerner then pulled out a pocketknife, slung it open and lunged at the employee, according to the victim and witnesses in court documents. The employee stepped back, and Boerner left for the front of the store.

Other employees detained Boerner until law enforcement arrived, according to a Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office news release.

One of the employees told deputies she heard Boerner call her coworker a racial slur at least three times, court records indicate.

Another employee said she stepped in between the victim and Boerner, telling her coworker to let it go after Boerner called him the racial slur several times.

She said her coworker told her to move out of the way before Boerner pulled out the knife and pointed it toward her coworker’s abdomen. She said Boerner lunged toward her coworker, who stepped back and then pulled out a pocketknife himself.

Boerner admitted to calling the employee the racial slur multiple times, pulling out a knife and charging toward the employee, according to documents. He told deputies he called the employee the racial slur because “he acted like it.”

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Anderson on Friday sentenced Boerner to 30 months in prison and 18 months of community custody when he’s released.