Deonte Lamont Rasul-Chiono, prosecutors allege, jumped with both feet and the full force of his 275 pounds on the head of Lonnie Johnson as the 53-year-old homeless man lay unconscious, helpless and bleeding heavily from his head on the street in the 2200 block of I Street early Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, prosecutors charged the 18-year-old Kent man with second-degree assault.
Auburn police also arrested a 19-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man in connection with the beating. No formal charges have yet been filed against the two, however, so the Auburn Reporter is withholding their names.
Bail has been set at $200,000 for Rasul-Chiono, $75,000 for the woman and $40,000 for the second man.
Medics took Johnson to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in a coma. The extent of his injuries has not been disclosed.
According to Auburn Police Detective Anna Weller’s account, filed with charging papers, an officer responded at about 12:18 a.m. to a report of a male lying face down in the street as several people kicked him. The officer found Johnson, next to a pool of blood, with blood dripping from his head and an egg-sized lump on the left side of his face. He was shaking, unconscious and making guttural noises.
According to the police account, a witness told police she had been in her home when she heard two men yelling, looked outside, noticed Johnson lying in the street and asked another person to call 911. She then saw what she believed to be a man in fitted blue jeans approach Johnson then stomp and kick his head before running north on 22nd Street Northeast.
According to the police account, a second witness then looked out of a window and saw a man in a red shirt and dark pants jump into the air and land on Johnson’s head with both feet.
According to the police account, both assailants then fled in a boxy, gold, older sedan with a flat tire. An officer soon located a car driving in the 3900 block of Auburn Way South that matched the description, with a flat tire on the front passenger side. The car pulled into a parking lot, and the occupants left the vehicle and began to walk away before the officer ordered them to return and sit on the curb.
According to the police account, the first witness positively identified the car, and the second witness positively identified Rasul-Chiono as the man who had jumped on Johnson’s head. Officers allegedly found what appeared to be dried blood on the inside of his right shoe. Rasul-Chiono allegedly denied any knowledge in the assault, but according to the police account, the second man said he had seen him standing over the victim at the scene.
The woman, whose hair was covered by a hood, was the only person among the three wearing light blue fitted jeans, which matched the suspect seen kicking and stomping Johnson’s head. She, too, denied any knowledge of the assault. The second man allegedly admitted they were all present at the assault but denied his own involvement.
According to charging papers, Rasul-Chino has prior convictions for first-degree criminal trespassing, possession of drugs and vehicle prowling.
Police are continuing their investigation, but Sgt. David Colglazier said they don’t yet know of a motive for the assault.
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