This week in Fresno, California, a man pleaded no contest to a hate crime and was sentenced to 13 years in prison for brutally beating an 82-year-old man outside a Sikh temple in 2013.
Fresno man sentenced to 13 years in prison for 2013 hate crime
According to police, Gilbert Garcia Jr. was riding a bicycle when he came upon Piara Singh, who wears a turban and bear in observance of his faith, walking out of the Nanksar Sikh Temple in south Fresno. Garcia beat Singh in the head and body with a steel rod.
Singh was found in a pool of blood, and was hospitalized for over a week with broken bones and ribs, lung lacerations and head injuries requiring twenty stitches.
This wasn't a robbery. Singh had never met or seen Garcia before. Police say that Garcia made racial slurs about Muslims and told Singh, "I'm going to destroy your mosque."
"Although he has recovered from his wounds after the attack, he still has flashbacks," said community activist Ike Grewal, who frequently speaks to Singh's family. "He still is afraid."
Singh had just finished preparing meals for the hungry when Gilbert Garcia spotted him outside a Southwest Fresno temple. Garcia screamed something about the Taliban and Muslims as he attacked a man of a different faith.
"The Sikhs continue to be mistaken as terrorists because our media tends to show instances of terrorist attacks and images of the terrorists wearing turbans," said Grewal.
In February, Garcia agreed to plead no contest to a felony charge of inflicting injury on an elderly person and admitted to causing great bodily injury with a weapon. He also admitted it was a hate crime. Rot in jail, hater.
More here: Misdirected Muslim hatred leads to long punishment in Fresno Sikh attack
