A White California couple was sentenced on January 20 for violently assaulting a 62-year-old Black Air Force veteran unprovoked in a “racially motivated incident” that left him injured with a broken jaw.
The attack occurred at a bowling alley in 2018 when the victim, identified as Dirrick Williams, was making his way out after visiting the facility to pick up entry forms and fees for a charity event he was organizing, the Monterey County Weekly reported. The couple, Noah and Tricia Boewer, were also guests at the bowling alley and they had been drinking at the bar inside the establishment. They were also alleged to have been looking for a fight.
As Williams was heading towards his car, he got into the path of the couple and said, “excuse me.” Things, however, escalated and Tricia accused Williams of groping her behind. The couple also called him the N-word repeatedly, and when Williams questioned them over the use of the racial expletive against him, they proceeded to attack him. Williams was punched in the face by Noah, breaking his jaw in the process. Tricia also jumped on Williams’ back while he was trying to defend himself.
“Ms. Bower proceeded to confront the victim, yelling racial slurs. Mr. Boewer threw a punch at the victim, who was able to block the blow,” the District Attorney’s Office said, according to KPIX-TV. “Ms. Boewer jumped on the victim’s back and Mr. Boewer punched the victim on the left side of his face. This unprovoked punch caused seven fractures to the left side of the victim’s face, to include a broken jaw.”
A bartender who served the couple also told authorities they had earlier hurled a racial slur at two East Asian men in the bar and also threatened them.
Noah was found guilty of felony assault while Tricia was implicated for misdemeanor battery. The jury, however, did not find them guilty of a hate crime charge. Following the guilty verdict, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Andrew Liu sentenced Noah, 49, to six years in prison and Tricia, 38, to sixty days in jail. Tricia will also be on probation for a year after she serves her jail sentence.
“The lie Tricia Boewer told to the police and this court when she said I physically accosted her is more than a lie, more than an insult. It was a direct and deliberate attack on my life,” Williams said during the January 20 sentencing hearing, according to the Monterey County Weekly. “The court wants to know the impact she has in my life? Well, after calling me a nigger several times, she employed the oldest trick in the book when it comes to interactions between white women and Black men.”
He continued: “A white woman lies, and by the thousands black lives are devastated…she lied and she did so with the deliberate intent of destroying my life. Witness and police reports indicate with her, black lives do not matter. This was a violent attack on my life as I know it. I cannot believe this woman, whose mouth began this problem, whose lie elevated this problem, who adversely perpetuated this problem into the lives of so many people, is walking away from this court not being held accountable to depth of which her evil demands.”
Williams also reflected on previous incidents where Black men were brutally assaulted after White women falsely accused them.
“In every case where a white woman accused a Black man of anything, white men…have burned, beat, hung, castrated, shot, killed and broke the jaw and the backs of countless Black men, and Black families, and have done so at will,” he said.
Asked why he chose not to walk away from the racial taunts the couple were hurling at him during the trial, Williams said: “My name isn’t ni**er.”
“I don’t have to walk away. My grandfather had to walk away, my father had to walk away. My brothers had to walk away,” he added. “My mother named me Dirrick Williams, not ni**er.”
Noah is also awaiting another trial for assaulting Tricia in 2020. She filed for divorce six weeks after he assaulted her, the Monterey County Weekly reported.
