Western mainstream media have once again come under fire for remaining largely silent following a brutal attack committed by a career criminal in Seattle, United States. According to recently released footage, Fale Vaigalepa Pea, 42, assaulted 75-year-old Jeanette Marken with a wooden board fitted with a protruding screw, striking her in the face and gouging out her eye, causing severe injuries that permanently affected her eyesight.
The video of the incident was recorded by the Seattle Police Real Time Crime Center. Body-camera footage from responding officers shows that the attacker was immediately recognized by police. ‘He is notorious for random assaults,’ one officer says. ‘He’s a regular. He usually punches. I guess today he decided to escalate from his usual.’
Pea’s criminal record is extensive. In 2011 he stabbed two people at a party in SeaTac; one of the victims was stabbed eight times, according to the arrest report. Court records show that he was convicted by a jury and received an 18-month sentence of community custody. He continued to accumulate assault-related charges, including one case in 2020, four cases in 2023, and another in 2024.
According to the King County jail, the suspect has been booked eight times this year. However, Seattle Municipal Court and King County Superior Court records indicate that none of his arrests in 2025 resulted in charges prior to the assault on Marken. Seattle police have repeatedly arrested Pea this year on suspicion of assault, indecent exposure, drug-related offences, property destruction, unlawful use of weapons, and malicious mischief.
Pea is now charged with first-degree assault and is expected to appear for a competency hearing later this month. ‘The defendant’s egregious actions in this case, as well as his prior assaultive criminal history, demonstrate that he is a substantial danger to the community and is likely to commit a violent offence,’ prosecutors wrote in charging documents related to the attack on Marken.
Despite the footage spreading rapidly online, mainstream media outlets have largely refrained from reporting on the attack, which occurred on 5 December. This silence has drawn comparisons to the handling of the Iryna Zarutska murder case, in which media outlets and Democratic officials were accused of coordinating efforts ‘not to share’ footage of the Ukrainian refugee’s killing. When details of that case eventually emerged, it sparked nationwide outrage and contributed to Republican lawmakers successfully pushing for stricter crime legislation in North Carolina under the banner of ‘Iryna’s Law’.
Several major media outlets, including Associated Press, Reuters and NBC etc, have faced intense criticism on social media for declining to cover the Marken case. X user End Wokeness, who has 3.9 million followers, published a post listing which outlets had reported on the incident and which had not:
The post garnered nearly two million views and more than 30,000 likes in just over 24 hours. Other users echoed accusations of a ‘media blackout’, while also blaming progressive judges for repeatedly releasing the suspect despite what they described as his aggressive behaviour and clear threat to public safety.
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