Father questions lack of arrests in West Seattle son's beating

The father of a 16-year-old West Seattle boy who said he was attacked by two men who made racially charged statements wonders why there have been no arrests even though police have identified two possible suspects.

It's been nearly three weeks since 16-year-old Shane McClellan showed up at an emergency room beaten, his father said, almost beyond recognition and almost one week since the teen was called into the police precinct to identify photos of suspects.

"We just can't understand why there haven't been any arrests," said Shane's father, Tim McClellan. "It doesn't seem right. I mean, the guys had my son's blood on their hands."

Seattle police confirmed that detectives had interviewed Shane McClellan on June 4 and that no arrests have been made in connection with the May 25 assault, which occurred near 14th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Holden Street. The assault is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

"It's unfortunate this incident occurred," Seattle police spokeswoman Renee Witt said Sunday. "We take all crimes against people very seriously. However, there is more to this story than we can share with the public."

Police also are investigating an incident on May 31 near 16th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Henderson Street in which three teens were challenged to fight by two men. According to police, one man, described as Asian, told the teens that he hated white people, police said.

The police report does not indicate the teens' race.

Jamieson said police are looking into whether the two incidents are connected because of similarities between the suspect descriptions and because they occurred within blocks of each other.

In the first incident, Shane McClellan said he was walking home around 2 a.m. on May 25 when two men, one black and one Filipino, asked him for a light.

They then robbed him and beat him for four hours, whipping him with his own belt while saying things like, "How do you like it, white boy?" and "This is for enslaving our people," according to the police report.

Shane McClellan, who is white, said the two men also poured Four Loko energy beer on him, burned him with a lit cigarette and urinated on him, police said.

The officer who took the report went to the scene of the beating near Southwest Holden Street and 14th Avenue Southwest, police said. There, Officer Ryan Blake found blood, discarded Four Loko cans and fresh cigarette butts, which he took into evidence.

A short time later, while returning to the precinct, Blake saw a black man and a Filipino man who appeared to be trying to conceal an open can, according to police.

When he stopped to talk to the two men, he noted they had dried blood on their hands, were drinking the same brand of energy beer and smoking the same brand of cigarettes he'd found earlier.

After Blake talked with his supervisor, it was decided that he should get good contact information on the two but not take them into custody.

In the second incident, a teen reported that he and two acquaintances were walking near 16th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Henderson Street around 7 p.m. on May 31 when two men — one described as Asian and the other as black — approached the trio. The two men asked the teens where they were from and then asked one of the teens if he wanted to go "head up" in a fight with him.

The teen declined, according to the police report.

Police said the Asian man then took the teen's phone, called one of the victim's friends with it, challenged him several more times to fight and then told the group he hated white people.

The Asian man returned the phone and told the teens to "stay safe" before leaving.

According to police, the Asian man then returned, told the teen he liked his hat and then snatched it from his head and punched him in the forehead.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com