Seattle Sikh Attacked In Brutal Hate Crime

[Mehtab Singh]

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/ne...se,230265.shtml

On Saturday, November 24, 2007, Mr. Singh had stopped to eat when two Seattle police officers approached him and asked him to drive home a man who was in their custody. It was the night of the Apple Cup in Seattle, and the man was intoxicated. Mr. Singh agreed to help the police officers by taking the individual back to his residence, but he never made it there.

On the way home, the man began to verbally abuse Mr. Singh, using religious and racial epithets and threatening to kill him. As his anger escalated, he attacked Mr. Singh from the back seat, knocking off Mr. Singh's turban and pulling his hair so hard that locks of hair came out. Trapped in the I-5 carpool lane, Mr. Singh was forced to stop the car to escape his attacker. His attacker tumbled out onto the highway with him and continued beating Mr. Singh until Washington State Troopers responded to the scene.

Mr. Singh was hospitalized overnight, and has been vomiting ever since he returned home yesterday.

"This is not the first time Sikhs have been targeted out of hate in Seattle. Our public officials need to take a strong stance against bias. We expect that this incident will be investigated and prosecuted as a hate crime," said Jasmit Singh, a member of the board of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Washington, and a Sikh Coalition board member.

The attack comes on the heels of a report released by the FBI last week stating that hate crimes rose almost 8% nationally from 2005 to 2006, with over half of the incidents being racially motivated. Religious bias was blamed for approximately 19% of the incidents, while ethnic or national origin accounted for more than 12% of the incidents.

Seattle's 10,000-strong Sikh community is outraged that this vicious attack occurred in their hometown. Community members are particularly concerned that a police report on the incident does not include any information on the bias that motivated the crime.

The victim, Sukhvir Singh, is shaken. "I am in a lot of pain, and don't understand why someone would do this to me. I love America and hope that in my case, justice will be done," he said.

[AvnitK]

this is very hurtful and quite scary

[Ramneet Singh]

this is very hurtful and quite scary

tru dat, but arent the police supposed to be responsible for this intoxicated dude.......didnt they kinda tell the singh to do their for for them ??

[AvnitK]

this is very hurtful and quite scary

tru dat, but arent the police supposed to be responsible for this intoxicated dude.......didnt they kinda tell the singh to do their for for them ??

Thats why its scary the police seem to have done it on purpose

[Mehtab Singh]

For some reason I feel we are not being told the complete story. Why would cops ask a cab driver to give ride to a criminal?

[ISDhillon]

If it is a couple of guys theN yes I would understand that a person gets beaten, but why didnt the cab driver defend himself, how do you let one man bite youre face and pull youre hair where are youre hands and feet at that time, this guy did the right thing:

http://www.sikhnet.com/sikhnet/news.nsf/Ne...72573990060C0D9

we should take a leaf out of his book and learn to attack the attacker and not just defend.

[Simran9]

Link to this pic is on The Seattle Times online.

Carrying candles against hatred

Jaskirat Parmar, 8, center, joins other Sikhs on the steps of Gurdwara Singh Sabha, a Sikh house of worship in Renton, on Wednesday night to protest violence directed at them and show solidarity for Sikh cab driver Sukhvir Singh. He was hospitalized after police say he was beaten by a drunken passenger last weekend. Luis Vázquez, of Kent, was charged Tuesday with third-degree assault and malicious harassment, the state's hate-crime law.

http://www.sikhcoalition.org/ Has updates and more info, and links to other media sources that reported on this.

[Punjabi_Link]

How come the "singh" didn't pull out his kirpan?

[spsherepunjab]

yh how come the Singh didnt pull out his kirpan. he should of fought back. a khalsa would of fought back. sir jaave ta jaave meri sikhi sidhak na jaave

[Simran9]

He was the driver of a cab. Obviously the passenger was in back seat. Its easy to attack someone sitting in front of you, but as the driver its not exactly the easiest thing in the world to attack back at the person behind you, and on a freeway! By the time you pull over to safe spot on the side, damage has been done. This could have easily involved other motorists and injured others. Just think about it, put yourself in his shoes and think of all the factors involved. Its easy to say he should have attacked back but its not always easily done. There could be something missing in the picture though, because usually the police would have taken care of the drunk guy situation.