Harassment and threats, served up with a side of racist insults, lands Yelm man in Olympia Jail

A Yelm man was arrested last Tuesday after allegedly harassing and hurling racial slurs at two Intercity Transit (IT) Center staff.

Lane Gary Bennett, 54, was arrested on August 23 after reports of a disorderly subject at the transit center on the 200 block of State Ave NE.

The reporting party, an IT Center employee, wrote in her witness statement that she overheard a male yelling from the customer service lobby, prompting her to check on the commotion.

“I witnessed a male in his 50s to 60s threatening bodily harm to our security officer, lunging back and forth with constant threats,” the employee wrote.

The reporting party said she then approached Bennett “to see if [he] would respond differently to another employee, to no avail — the man-made threats and lunged towards me with a fist.”

The female employee said the IT security guard stood in front of her, at which point Bennett backed away but turned toward the glass doors and “violently kicked” it open to exit the building.

In his witness statement, the security officer wrote  “an elder white male entered the building distraught and yelling profanities.”

The security guard told police he asked Bennett to behave in a calm and respectful manner, but the suspect “became more distraught and aggressive” and displayed “threatening behavior,” including “calling me the N-word.” He also said Bennett got in his face.

The reporting party came over to assist, the security officer said, but Bennett then “turned his aggression upon [her].” The officer said the suspect left the building, kicking the door on his way out.

Police said Bennett hurled slurs at both the security officer and the female employee, who are both black. The suspect is white.

“It is my belief that this incident was racially motivated, and I’m asking the prosecutor to also consider [charges of] Malicious Harassment RCW 9A.36.080,” the responding police officer wrote in his report.

Police said surveillance footage captured the incident and showed Bennett becoming verbal with the security officer, “eventually escalating to the point of putting his hand in [the security officer’s] face, causing him to step back several times.”

The female employee wrote that she wants to see the suspect trespassed from the building so that he could not return while the trespass document is in force.

Bennett was booked into the Olympia City Jail for harassment and malicious harassment.