Despite already robbing him of the money he carried in his taxicab, Harbhajan Singh was continually attacked physically while his attackers called him “Osama Bin Laden”.  Police are thus far only treating this as a robbery:

Police said the assault and robbery appeared to be an isolated incident and, contrary to some media reports, it is not being investigated as a hate crime.

It seems that as long as you attach the hate crime to another crime, you get a free pass on beating an innocent man simply based on his appearance.

But, not so fast, says the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who have called on the FBI to investigate the attack as a hate crime:

“No American should fear attack merely for being perceived to be Muslim,” said CAIR-SV Civil Rights Coordinator Adel Syed. “The FBI and local law enforcement authorities should investigate whether this disturbing crime was motivated by anti-Muslim hate and then bring appropriate charges when and if the perpetrators are apprehended.”  

The question is: would Singh’s attackers continued to have attacked him (or rob him in the first place) if he was not brown, bearded and turbaned?

Police have not identified the passengers.  Two were women and one of them was also assaulted when trying to stop the attack on Singh.  Singh’s attackers are still at large:

Two of the subjects were described as men, possibly Hispanic, 30 to 35 years old. The other two passengers were described only as females.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the West Sacramento Police Department at (916) 617-4900.