Suspect arrested and charged with a hate crime for allegedly assaulting Sikh cab driver

SCREEN CAPTURE

In this image taken from a video of the incident at JFK Airport, a Sikh cab driver, left,
was allegedly assaulted by the man on the right.

A man has been arrested and charged with a hate crime after an alleged attack on a Sikh American taxi driver at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport earlier this month, according to a criminal complaint.

On January 3, a Sikh taxi driver who lives in New York City was allegedly physically attacked and berated outside of his cab at JFK airport by another cab driver, 21-year-old Mohamed Hassanain.

The Sikh driver (anonymized as ‘Mr. Singh’ to respect his request for privacy) has retained the Sikh Coalition to provide free legal guidance as the investigation into his attacker moves forward.

On that morning, Singh had parked his cab at the Terminal 4 taxi stand when another driver blocked his vehicle in. When Singh picked up a customer, he stepped partway out of his car to ask the other driver to move. The other driver attempted to hit Singh with his own car door; he then began repeatedly punching Singh in the head, chest, and arms, causing his dastaar (turban) to become unraveled and fall off, and called him “turbaned people” and shouted at him to “go back to your country.”

Part of the attack was captured in a viral video that circulated on Twitter last week. However, out of respect for Singh’s privacy (given that his dastaar was knocked off) and in accordance with his request that he not be publicly identified, the Sikh Coalition is not further sharing that footage at this time.

While Singh has declined to give interviews at this time, he has provided the following quote to the Sikh Coalition: “I was shocked and angered to be assaulted for doing nothing but minding my own business while working--no one should experience such hate. I am hopeful that the police can identify, arrest, and charge the person who attacked me so that I can move forward.”

The New York City Police Department arrested Hassanain on Thursday and he was arraigned in Queens County Criminal Court on Friday. He is charged with assault in the third degree as a hate crime, assault in the third degree, and harassment in the second degree, according to the complaint.

CNN has reached out for comment from a legal aid attorney for Hassanain but has not heard back.

“We are grateful to the Port Authority Police Department and Queens District Attorney's Office for their prompt action on this case, and for recognizing that the attack on Mr. Singh included clear anti-Sikh bias,” said Amrith Kaur Aakre, Sikh Coalition Legal Director (she/her). “This case underscores the importance of sharing all of the details of these kinds of attacks with law enforcement. Holding perpetrators accountable for both their actions and their hateful motivations is the clearest way to show that bigotry, and the violence that it fuels, have no place in our communities.”

Sikhs in the United States continue to experience bias- and hate-driven attacks on account of their visually identifiable articles of faith (including dastaars) as well as perceptions about their country of origin.

According to the most recent FBI data, Sikhs remain in the top three most frequently targeted groups for religiously-motivated hate crimes and bias incidents nationwide. In the Sikh Coalition’s experience, taxi and rideshare drivers in particular are at a heightened risk of kinds of violent attacks; in recent years, we have provided free legal aid to multiple Sikh drivers attacked across the country, and we continue to provide know-your-rights resources proactively to help the community stay safe.

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