A Lynn man will serve at least six months behind bars for swinging at an MBTA inspector while shouting racist slurs in a downtown subway station last year, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

DANIEL JOURDET (D.O.B. 5/2/57) pleaded guilty to assault and battery and violating a person’s civil rights as his trial was set to begin in the Boston Municipal Court today. Judge Mark Hart Summerville sentenced Jourdet to two and a half years in a house of correction with six months to serve up front and the balance suspended for a probationary period of three years. If Jourdet reoffends during that time, he could be ordered to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Kate Clayman would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that the 34-year-old victim and another inspector had observed Jourdet and another man yelling and pretending to fight on the Copley station inbound platform on the evening of April 1, 2010.

The victim asked Jourdet and his associate to stop their disorderly behavior or leave the station. Instead, the evidence would have shown, Jourdet poured forth a stream of invective based upon the victim’s ethnicity. The evidence would have proven that Jourdet threw a punch at the victim before leaving the station. The victim was not injured, but his hat was knocked to the ground.

“During the assault and throughout this case, the inspector kept his cool,” Conley said. “He’s poised, perceptive, dignified, and intelligent – in short, everything this defendant is not.”

Jourdet was represented by attorney Lucy Rivera.