Prosecutors in California are reviewing the incident as a possible hate crime.
A woman was caught on video hurling insults and coffee at a group of Muslims praying in a park in California on Sunday.
Rasheed Albeshari, one of the Muslims present during the incident, posted the video to Facebook.
He wrote:
#Islamophobia After praying, this lady approached us and started yelling at us that we're brainwashed for believing in Allah, "Allah is evil" she said. I started video taping her, I ,also, was hit by an umbrella before taking a shower of coffee right on my face. And what happened next was this.
The incident occurred when a group of Muslim friends were praying near the volleyball courts at the Lake Chabot regional park, public information officer Carolyn Jones told BuzzFeed News.
In the video, the woman is heard saying, "The people you tortured are going to be in eternity in heaven. You are very deceived by Satan. Your mind has been taken over...brainwashed. And you have nothing but hate. Nothing but hate."
A park ranger is then seen telling the woman, "This is really inappropriate."
The woman responds, "It is inappropriate, for somebody to tape record me."
A man, who is filming the video, is heard saying, "This woman was talking about my God."
The woman is heard saying, "Get out" while striking the man who was filming her.
Jones said the woman was identified as Denise Slader, an employee of the California Department of Corrections.
According to Jones, Slader saw the friends praying in the park and said something to her friend about them.
"One of the [Muslim] men then tried to engage her in a conversation about religion and it quickly turned hostile," Jones said.
Slader allegedly yelled insults, including "The Quran is evil," "Your God is Satan," and "Allah is Satan."
When one of the group's members started to record her, Slader hit him with an umbrella and threw a cup of coffee on him, Jones said.
A police officer took statements from all parties, but did not cite or arrest the woman as he did not witness the incident, Jones said.
The police have sent an incident report to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office to review for possible charges of misdemeanor battery or a hate crime, according to Jones.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office told BuzzFeed News that she could not comment on possible charges since the report had not yet been brought to the charging deputy.
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed that Slader is a 10-year employee who works as a program technician.
"CDCR expects its employees to abide by a code of conduct that includes respecting the rights of others regardless of personal characteristics including ancestry and religion," the statement continued. "In addition to the police investigation, an internal CDCR investigation into the incident is ongoing."
No change had been registered in Slader's employment status, an agency spokesperson said.
Albeshari, who moved from North Carolina to California in 2011, told The Arab American News that he never thought something like that could happen to him.
"That's one of the main reasons why we love the Bay Area," Albeshari said. "It's people from all around the planet. I never thought this would ever happen to me here. It's a very uncomfortable feeling."
Albeshari did not respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.
Jones said the park was very popular and is in a "very diverse area."
"There are mosques, churches, and temples. People are extremely tolerant and this is very unusual occurrence," she said.
The incident is the latest in a series on anti-Muslim acts reported across the country in the wake of November's Paris attacks that killed 130 people.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1Y32wAC
No comments:
Post a Comment