Racist man tries to run over black man with his car -- then winds up getting beaten with his own hammer

A white man in Seattle earlier this week repeatedly tried to run over a black man in a parking lot -- but then his own ineptitude led to him getting beaten with a hammer.

Local news station KIRO 7 reports that Seattle police say that a 52-year-old white man on Thursday admitted to them that he had yelled racial slurs at a black man while the two of them were in a parking lot near a local Taco Bell.

Witnesses tell KIRO 7 that, after yelling racial slurs at the black man, the white man proceeded to get into his SUV and tried at least twice to run down the black man. The white man then grabbed a hammer that was sitting in his car and hurled it at the black man.

This turned out to be a major misjudgment, however, as the hammer missed the black man and struck a nearby vehicle. The black man then picked up the hammer and repeatedly hit the white man in his arm before running away.

Police are investigating the attack as a potential hate crime, but one witness tells KIRO 7 that the incident was actually a drug deal gone wrong, as he believes the white man wanted to buy drugs from the black man, who refused to sell any to him. This led him to get "so irate," the witness explained, that he tried to run over the black man.

Watch KIRO 7's report on the incident below.