US man booked for abusing Sikh and throwing drink at him

LOS ANGELES: Hate crime charges have been filed against a 40-yearold man who racially abused a Sikh and threw a drink at him, mistaking him for a Muslim.

The Kern county district attorney’s office filed misdemeanour charges against David Scott Hook from Bakersfield for allegedly accosting Balmeet Singh outside a California Avenue restaurant last month, cursing him, threatening him and drenching him with a drink.

Singh, while narrating the incident, had said he and his friends were out for dinner at the Habit Burger in Bakersfield, California.

He decided to step outside the restaurant to make a phone call and that is when the incident happened.

Singh said in the middle of his conversation, a man walked out of Blaze Pizza and headed straight towards him. “He said you're trying to blow up this country, I should kill you. I'm going to kill you right now. And he used a lot of curse words and he seemed very angry," Singh was quoted as saying by KEROTV.

Singh said he yelled back at the man that he was a racist and he was the problem. Singh said the man continued to yell and then threw a drink at him.

According to a statement from the district attorney's office, Hook was charged on Saturday with one count of interference with the exercise of a civil right and one count of battery. Kern County district attorney Lisa Green was quoted by The Bakersfield Californian as saying that the civil rights charge falls under the legal category of a hate crime.

"It is alleged defendant David Hook threw liquid on another individual because he appeared to be of a different religion or race," the statement said.