He used a racial slur and stabbed a man who dented his truck. Now he’s off to prison

A man accused of stabbing someone who backed into his truck in Tacoma has been sentenced.

Jurors convicted 36-year-old Michael Ronald Wilkins of second-degree assault earlier this year for the attack, which happened July 8, 2017 outside a bar in the 700 block of St. Helens Avenue.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Kitty-Ann van Doorninck gave Wilkins a high-end sentence of two years, two months in prison Friday.

Prosecutors said the victim was stabbed when he stopped to check for damage after he believed he had backed into Wilkins’ truck.

Deputy prosecutor Kawyne Lund told the court that the attack was senseless and incredibly aggressive.

“The victim felt responsible (for backing into the truck), and he stopped, and as a result of doing the right thing, he ended up in the hospital,” Lund said.

Charging papers give this account:

Wilkins came out of the bar with several other men. Someone asked who hit the truck, and Wilkins punched the victim when he came forward.

A fistfight broke out, and Wilkins used a racial slur. Wilkins told an observer that was OK, because he is married to a black woman.

Wilkins is white and the victim is black.

He ultimately went to the truck, grabbed a knife and stabbed the victim. One wound was a 5-inch slash. Another punctured the victim’s kidney and cracked a rib.

Defense attorney Leslie Tolzin told the judge there were multiple people involved in the fight and that Wilkins was not the stabber.

Tolzin pointed out that Wilkins voluntarily traveled from Montana to turn himself in.

Before she handed down the sentence, van Doorninck said she had “no doubt” about the jury’s decision.

This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 3:37 PM.