A Stanford University student who is Muslim was injured by a hit-and-run driver who allegedly shouted “f**k you and your people,” and the incident is being investigated as a hate crime motivated by race, the university said Sunday.
The student was struck by a car on a Friday afternoon. The driver, as reported by Stanford's Department of Public Safety, allegedly made eye contact with the student before rapidly driving away, yelling from the car's open window.
According to the account, the driver was described as a white male in his mid-20s, sporting short dirty-blonde hair, a brief beard, and donning round-framed eyeglasses.
The car was reportedly a Toyota 4Runner.
“I never thought I would be the victim of a hate-driven attack,” the student said in a statement to ABC News.
“His hateful screams … still echo in my ears.”
The student was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, but he said the attack left him with psychological wounds.
“The physical wounds will heal with time, but the emotional scars — the feeling of being targeted just because of my physical appearance, heritage and beliefs — are likely to stay.”
{{/usCountry}}“The physical wounds will heal with time, but the emotional scars — the feeling of being targeted just because of my physical appearance, heritage and beliefs — are likely to stay.”
{{/usCountry}}“As I lay in my hospital bed, trying to cope with a reality I never imagined, I think about the importance of spreading love kindness, and compassion in a world that seems to be increasingly falling to hatred and prejudice,” he said Stanford University said it was “deeply disturbed” by the reports of the incident, adding “hate-based violence is morally wrong.”
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“We denounce it in the strongest terms,” the school said.
The school faced backlash after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel when banners calling the Jewish state an “occupation” were hung on campus buildings.
The school removed the banners, clarifying their action by stating, "based on the location of the banners, not the content or viewpoint expressed," and affirming their neutrality regarding the conflict.
It was the latest incident of violence to affect US campuses since the fighting started in Israel after Hamas attacked the Jewish nation on October 7.