A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars for stabbing a Black woman and attacking a police officer back in 2018. According to a release from Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, Aleksejs Saveljevs plead guilty to first-degree attempted assault as a hate crime.

“This defendant viciously assaulted a fellow subway rider for no other reason than the color of her skin,” Gonzalez said. “Acts of hate are not tolerated in Brooklyn, a place that prides itself on the diversity of its communities. I hope this sentence sends a clear message that racism and intolerance are unwelcome here.”

Ann Marie Washington was reportedly walking towards a subway station exit. Saveljevs came up to her from behind and stabbed her numerous times in her shoulders and arms. A witness came up to him and asked what happened and he reportedly called the victim a “Black bitch!”

Washington went home after the attack, not realizing that she had been stabbed. She later went to a nearby hospital and was treated for a collapsed lung.

Saveljevs also plead guilty to a separate attack on an off-duty police officer. He was sentenced to two to four years for that crime. The officer was walking his dog when Saveljevs threw a sharp object at him, breaking his cheekbone. His sentences will run simultaneously.

Last month, John Lee Cowell was sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing 18-year-old Nia Wilson at the BART train station in Oakland, California. He originally pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but an Alameda County judge ruled that he was sane at the time of the attack.

Cowell was diagnosed with schizophrenia and his defense team claimed that his mental illness caused him to have a “psychotic break” from reality. During his testimony, he claimed that he believed Wilson and her sisters were “gang members” and “aliens” and said they kidnapped his grandmother.