TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Two white Vancouver men, including an Aryan Nations follower who once ran for public office in Idaho, have been indicted in a racially motivated attack on a black bar patron early this year.
Zachary Beck and Kory Boyd have been charged with conspiracy to violate civil rights and interference with a federally protected right. They were due to make initial appearances Wednesday at federal court in Tacoma.
Prosecutors say the Jan. 7 attack at a Vancouver bar came after Beck demanded that the only black man there leave. They say Beck tried to hit him, Boyd threw a bottle at him and a third man tried to stab him. That man has already been convicted of state charges.
The 31-year-old Beck ran unsuccessfully for city council in Hayden, Idaho, in 2003. That year he was charged with punching a man in a parking lot after asking him if he was Mexican.
Beck pleaded guilty in 2005 to burglary and assault charges after a standoff with Longview police.
