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Sikh youth attacked in Texas in
hate crime
WSN Network
WASHINGTON: A
Sikh graduate student, working as a part-time pizza delivery person,
was thrown into a swimming pool and brutally assaulted in
West Texas,
according to the Sikh Coalition, a community advocacy group.
When the young
man, whose identity has been withheld for his protection, brought
pizzas for delivery into a home, four men took the pizzas and
started eating without paying, while hurling racial epithets and
threatening him.
They abused him,
uttered expletives unworthy of being printed, referred to do worse
to him in Iraq and Afghanistan and then grabbed the Sikh student and
threw him into a swimming pool. The four attackers surrounded the
pool, kicking him in the head and body. Every time he tried to
escape, they would stomp or hit at him.
For 20 minutes,
he swam for his life trying to escape. He eventually seized an
opportunity to flee and barely made it to his car with two men in
pursuit, the community group said.
Though the local
police were called shortly after the attack, they failed to respond
adequately, the community group alleged. The police classified the
incident as a misdemeanor, which means that the attackers may not
have to serve any jail time, it said.
The local police
also did not file the incident as a hate crime, the group said. "It
is clear from the attackers' references to 'bin Laden' and 'Go back
to Afghanistan' and the fact that they kicked off his turban that
this assault targeted not only him as an individual, but his Sikh
identity."
However the
Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently investigating the matter as
a possible federal hate crime after being contacted when the local
police department refused to prosecute the attackers for hate crime,
the Sikh Coalition said.
The incident
reflected the same pattern of hate crime that has been witnessed in
many cases where Sikhs are coming under attack and the assaulters
often mistake them for Arabs or Muslims.
23
December 2009
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