The court hands down decades behind bars following a brutal 2023 stabbing on public transit.
By Sarah Lin
State prison time amounting to life plus seven years was ordered for a 67-year-old Santa Monica man convicted of carrying out a racially motivated stabbing aboard a public transit vehicle.
Superior Court proceedings concluded with the sentencing of Gerald Pitts following his June conviction on attempted murder charges. The sentence allows for the eventual possibility of parole.
Jurors determined that Pitts acted with premeditation and intentionally targeted victim Santos Tejas Gonzalez based on his actual or perceived race, ethnicity, or nationality, establishing the assault as a Metro bus hate crime. Additional sentencing enhancements were affirmed for personal use of a knife and the infliction of great bodily injury.
Video of the attack can be seen here. Viewer discretion is advised.
Court records show the violent encounter occurred around 9 p.m. on March 25, 2023, when Gonzalez boarded a Los Angeles Metro bus. As Gonzalez moved down the aisle to find a seat, Pitts immediately began directing racial slurs at him.
Seeking to defuse the situation, Gonzalez attempted to exit the vehicle at the intersection of Western Avenue and Exposition Boulevard. Pitts confronted him at the door, stabbing him repeatedly across his face, arm, hand, and abdomen.
When the wounded man collapsed onto the pavement outside the bus, Pitts continued the assault, kicking Gonzalez in the head while shouting additional slurs. Gonzalez survived the assault after receiving emergency treatment for severe, life-threatening injuries.
