Man sentenced for intentionally running over Asian pedestrian

A Massachusetts man has been sentenced in a hate-filled racially motivated incident in Quincy, near Boston.

A district court judge Wednesday sentenced John Sullivan, 78, to 18 months in prison for intentionally ramming his vehicle into a victim twice after threatening to kill a group of Asian Americans including three children, the Justic Department announced.

NBC10 in Boston reported Sullivan faced a maximum of 10 years in prison for the incident that traumatized a Vietnamese American family, telling them to “go back to China.”

Sullivan would later plead guilty to committing a hate crime.

Prosecutors say Sullivan confronted Desiree Thien, her brother and her three children as they left a post office in December 2022. Thien said Sullivan warned the family that he was going inside and that if they were still there when he came out in five minutes, he would kill them.

Prosecutors say Sullivan would drive 50 yards with Thien’s brother on the hood of his car. They say he then abruptly stopped. The sudden movement forced the brother off the car.

“Then he accelerated on the gas again, which hit my brother and sent him flying into the construction ditch nearby,” Thien said.

Thien’s brother would tumble into the 10-foot-deep ditch and suffer injury.

“Every single man, woman and child living in Massachusetts has a fundamental right to be free from acts of hate and violence. The conduct here is truly despicable and this office will dedicate whatever resources are needed to vigorously prosecute these types of hate crimes.  Fueled by his hate of Asian-Americans, John Sullivan twice used his car to strike and injure an innocent man. He engaged in these acts of hate in front of the victim’s friends, including three children under the age of 12, who all watched in horror,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy in a statement. “These violent acts of hate spread fear throughout our community and will never be tolerated.”