Vancouver man suspected of malicious harassment toward neighbor held on $10K bail

A Vancouver man is accused of a hate crime after police say he scratched a racial slur into a neighbor’s car at an apartment complex in the Fruit Valley neighborhood.

Jason A. Smith, 43, appeared Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of malicious harassment, Washington’s hate-crime offense. A judge set his bail at $10,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned March 12.

Vancouver police received a report from a woman who said that overnight Friday her car had a racial slur scratched into the paint. She said the car was parked near her unit, and she suspected her neighbor, whom she identified as Smith, was responsible. She said Smith has had issues before with her young son, who is Black, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Officers arrived and saw the slur scratched on the car. They reviewed surveillance video from the complex, which they said shows a man walking through the parking lot toward the woman’s car. The man can then be seen writing on the side of the car, court records state.

The video also captured another resident talking to the man before he went to the woman’s car. When police spoke to that resident, he identified the man in the video as Smith. He said Smith had told him at length about how he hated the woman’s child, according to the affidavit.

Smith’s wife also showed officers surveillance video from a camera outside her apartment. Officers said Smith can be seen on that video approaching the apartment wearing the same clothes as the man seen scratching the woman’s car, court records state.

When investigators spoke with Smith, they said he told them about a long-held dislike for the woman and her son, the affidavit states.

Court records indicate police arrested Smith on Tuesday evening at the apartment complex.