When these crimes against sikhs are going to stop?
Intoxicated football fan held in beating of Sikh cab driver
Intoxicated football fan held in beating of Sikh cab driver
By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTER
Members of Seattle's Sikh community are outraged after an intoxicated football fan pummeled a Sikh taxi driver last weekend in what is being investigated as an apparent hate crime.
The 48-year-old victim stopped his cab on Interstate 5 and tried to escape, police said. The suspect continued beating him in the roadway. He knocked off the victim's turban and tore out clumps of his hair, calling him an "Iraqi terrorist," the State Patrol reported.
The victim was briefly hospitalized late Saturday after he was repeatedly punched, kicked and bitten, allegedly by a Kent man who had been ejected from the Apple Cup for drunken behavior, according to the State Patrol.
The patrol still was investigating Monday. The 20-year-old suspect remained in the King County Jail for investigation of assault.
"Sikhs here in this area want this handled appropriately and (want the assault) taken seriously as a hate crime," said Hardeep Singh Rekhi, an acquaintance of the victim and an attorney who volunteers with the Sikh Coalition.
"I've lived in Seattle my whole life and I know this is something Seattle wouldn't find acceptable for its community members to do," he said.
A Metro bus stopped to block traffic after seeing the suspect beating the victim in the road, the patrol said. Witnesses aboard the bus made dozens of calls to 9-1-1 just before 8 p.m.
"It should be alarming that we have this type of violence," state Trooper Jeff Merrill said. "We're in Seattle and this is an educated city. We like to think we hold ourselves above this type of behavior."
Intoxicated football fan held in beating of Sikh cab driver
Intoxicated football fan held in beating of Sikh cab driver
By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTER
Members of Seattle's Sikh community are outraged after an intoxicated football fan pummeled a Sikh taxi driver last weekend in what is being investigated as an apparent hate crime.
The 48-year-old victim stopped his cab on Interstate 5 and tried to escape, police said. The suspect continued beating him in the roadway. He knocked off the victim's turban and tore out clumps of his hair, calling him an "Iraqi terrorist," the State Patrol reported.
The victim was briefly hospitalized late Saturday after he was repeatedly punched, kicked and bitten, allegedly by a Kent man who had been ejected from the Apple Cup for drunken behavior, according to the State Patrol.
The patrol still was investigating Monday. The 20-year-old suspect remained in the King County Jail for investigation of assault.
"Sikhs here in this area want this handled appropriately and (want the assault) taken seriously as a hate crime," said Hardeep Singh Rekhi, an acquaintance of the victim and an attorney who volunteers with the Sikh Coalition.
"I've lived in Seattle my whole life and I know this is something Seattle wouldn't find acceptable for its community members to do," he said.
A Metro bus stopped to block traffic after seeing the suspect beating the victim in the road, the patrol said. Witnesses aboard the bus made dozens of calls to 9-1-1 just before 8 p.m.
"It should be alarming that we have this type of violence," state Trooper Jeff Merrill said. "We're in Seattle and this is an educated city. We like to think we hold ourselves above this type of behavior."
