A Sikh man was attacked with a hammer by a Black assailant who shouted at him “I don’t like you” and “You’re not the same skin” at a lodge in Brooklyn right here, prompting a distinguished New-York primarily based advocacy group to name on investigators to look at if the assault was a hate crime incident.
Sumit Ahluwalia, 32, of Astoria has mentioned his assailant was fuelled by racial hatred, in accordance with a report on New York Daily News web site.
Ahluwalia mentioned the person, a Black, assaulted him on April 26 at his office, the Quality Inn in Brownsville. He mentioned the person got here into the foyer of the lodge at round 8 am and began shouting whereas the entrance desk woman requested him if he wanted assist.
Ahluwalia stepped into the foyer to talk with the person and to hunt the lodge safety guard. At that time, the assailant “started running towards me, very fast, and he put his hand in the pocket” I believed, “He’s pulling out a gun”’, the report mentioned.
Pleading with the person, the sufferer mentioned, “What happened? You’re my brother.”
The attacker responded “You’re not the same skin,” Ahluwalia mentioned, including that the person then “banged on my head with the hammer so hard.”
The assailant then screamed, “I don’t like you,” and ran away, in accordance with the report.
It mentioned the sufferer “couldn’t feel what happened with me” and was finally taken to an emergency room.
“I couldn’t sleep. I had a big bump on my head. I could fall “feeling dizziness, and the next morning I went to the doctor,” he mentioned, including that 5 days later, he was nonetheless feeling anxious and fearful.
“I didn’t do anything” I don’t deserve this. I’m a hardworking man, get up within the morning 6 a.m. and go residence at 7 pm,” he mentioned.
Police have launched footage of the suspect, who was nonetheless being sought.
Advocacy group The Sikh Coalition mentioned its authorized crew is offering free authorized companies to Ahluwalia.
“We have already been in direct communication with law enforcement and demanded that investigators examine the real possibility that bias was a motive,” it mentioned, including that anybody with details about the incident ought to contact the New York Police Department.
The tragic incident comes because the US has witnessed a latest wave of anti-Asian hate crimes throughout this pandemic.
Eight folks, together with 4 Sikhs, have been killed in a mass capturing at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis final month.
In March final yr, a person stabbed two Asian American youngsters – aged 2 and 6 – and their father at Sam’s Club in Texas as a result of “he thought the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus.”
A bunch of Democratic Senators in May final yr mentioned there was a surge in hate crime in opposition to Asian-Americans amid coronavirus pandemic and had urged the Trump administration to take concrete steps to arrest the spike.