A 35-year-old man from Washington state was arrested Saturday on assault charges for allegedly punching a 72-year-old veteran in the face last month.
Cody P. Hansen was taken into custody at his home on Aug. 8, according to Spokane County Jail records. He was located after police received an anonymous tip, KHQ-TV reported.
He will later be transferred from Spokane County to King County. His bail was set at $10,000 by a city court, records show.
Hansen was charged with second-degree assault in connection to an attack on July 18 that was captured on surveillance video. In it, it shows a man, allegedly Hansen, punching an elderly man until he appears to lose consciousness inside the lobby of the Red Lion Inn and Suites in Kent.
The unidentified victim, described as a partially disabled veteran, reportedly suffered from a broken jaw and a cornea abrasion following the attack, police said.
The attack is believed to have been sparked after the victim told Hansen’s girlfriend to wear a facial covering inside the hotel lobby amid the ongoing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.
The victim told police that Hansen walked toward him sometime after making the comment and almost immediately attacked. Investigators said in a release that the suspect then fled the hotel on foot and was later picked up by his girlfriend.
A surveillance video showing the attack was made public late last month as detectives searched for Hansen. The video was posted on Facebook by Fox affiliate Q13 News.
In the video, the elderly victim is seen sitting in a chair inside the hotel lobby with one of his hands holding a cane as a man approaches.
The suspect appears to say something briefly before launching multiple punches at the 72-year-old man’s face. The victim makes one attempt to return a hit during the altercation by using his walking cane before he appears to lose consciousness. He’s then seen lifting his hand to his face.
Besides the elderly man and his dog, no one else appears to be in the lobby at the time of the attack. The man’s dog can be seen following the suspect briefly before returning to his owner.
Hansen has an extensive criminal record in Alaska where he has been arrested nine times, dating back to 2006. His most recent arrest was in 2018. He has a warrant out of Alaska on drug charges and a probation violation, Kent police previously said.
