Police charged a Washington State University instructor as well as a college staff member with assaulting a MAGA hat-wearing student of color on Feb. 28, according to a video report from Turning Point USA’s Frontlines.
WSU junior engineering student Jay Sani — a conservative and big supporter of President Donald Trump — said in the clip that WSU instructor Patrick Mahoney and staff member Gerald Hoff ambushed and physically attacked him outside of the Coug, a campus bar. The attack was captured on surveillance video and is included in the Frontlines video report, which you can view here.
‘To make it clear, I hate to say this, but I’m brown, but forget it. I’m an engineering student that wants to get the degree and move on. So what if I like someone that you don’t like. We have the 1st Amendment, and it’s not okay that just because you don’t like that person, I should be attacked for it. You had a chance in November to oust [Trump], but you didn’t.’
Sani said he was wearing a red Make America Great Again hat at the time of the attack and that Mahoney “ripped the hat off my head.” In a Facebook post describing the attack, Sani said Mahoney “crumpled” up the MAGA hat and “threw it into the street, and yelled … words to the effect of ‘go get it bitch.'”
Sani said he threw his food at Mahoney’s face but that Mahoney and Hoff ganged up on him, saying Mahoney “grabbed my chest and slammed it on the concrete as I was falling” and “punched me a bunch of times on the back” and that Hoff “kicked me a bunch of times, too.”
The Frontlines report includes images of Sani’s “multiple scrapes and bruises” resulting from the two-on-one beatdown.
Caught and cuffed
The video report also shows Pullman police catching up with Mahoney and Hoff on bodycam video timestamped in the early morning hours of March 1, just hours after the attack.
“I seen this guy f**king on campus before,” Mahoney says on police bodycam video in reference to Sani. “I know he’s, like, [a] f**king right-wing dude.”
Mahoney also tells police, “I, like, grabbed his hat, threw it, and said, like, ‘go get it.'” Hoff admits to police that “we did grab him and bring him to the ground.”
However, Mahoney is heard actually telling cops that he didn’t hit Sani and that “I don’t think I did f**king something illegal, right?”
A voice — presumably an officer — is heard saying on the bodycam clip that “it’s unwanted touching,” after which Mahoney says, “It’s unwanted touching. I don’t know what that is, right?”
Mahoney adds on the bodycam clip that Sani “wanted to fight” and “f**king got what was coming to him, right?”
The video notes that Mahoney and Hoff were arrested and charged with fourth-degree misdemeanor assault. The WSU student newspaper, the Daily Evergreen, confirmed their arrests and charges.
The Frontlines video report said Mahoney is a WSU graduate student and instructor who teaches a freshman-level political science class — and is a “notorious far-left activist who hates conservative values and is a regular at pro-Hamas protests in the city.”
Mahoney also “has strong ties to the Democratic Socialists of America, progressive pro-labor groups, and is someone who publicly touts his admiration for the communist party,” the video report adds, citing Sani. The video also points out a hammer and sickle pin seen on Mahoney’s jacket lapel in his WSU headshot:
Patrick MahoneyImage source: Washington State University website
The Frontlines video report adds that WSU temporarily suspended Mahoney from classes and teaching duties. The Daily Evergreen confirmed Mahoney’s suspension.
However, the video report said Sani is speaking up because Mahoney could be reinstated and that his victim doesn’t want that to happen. “He shouldn’t be teaching here in my opinion, because if you can’t tolerate different opinions, then what’s the point?” Sani said in the video.
In reference to Sani’s skin color, he added in his Facebook post, “To make it clear, I hate to say this, but I’m brown, but forget it. I’m an engineering student that wants to get the degree and move on. So what if I like someone that you don’t like. We have the 1st Amendment, and it’s not okay that just because you don’t like that person, I should be attacked for it. You had a chance in November to oust [Trump], but you didn’t.”
The Frontlines video report said WSU leaders wouldn’t comment on the situation, citing student privacy laws, and that a Frontlines reporter knocked on Mahoney’s door to inquire if he wanted to comment on the assault but that he replied, “No, go away,” from behind the closed door.
The Frontlines video report added that “we were unable to reach Hoff to get his side of the story, but found his LinkedIn account indicating that he’s employed at WSU. Again, the school would not comment on Hoff’s status, either.”
The video report added that WSU is preparing for a Thursday event featuring TPUSA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk and that the event “is already drawing online chatter from violent militant groups like Antifa and other left-leaning students who are promising to disrupt and cause chaos.”
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