An American man, who attacked a Sikh taxi driver and called him a terrorist, is facing two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to hate crime charges.
Luis Arturo Vazquez, 21, pleaded guilty this week to second-degree assault and malicious harassment for the November attack, which left Sukhvir Singh, 48, with a concussion, cuts, bite marks on his scalp and other injuries.
Prosecutors in the Washington state will ask for a two-year jail term when Vazquez is sentenced on April 18, Seattle Post Intelligencer reported.
Vazquez was drunk and had been kicked out of a football game when officers spotted Singh's cab and asked him to give him a ride home on November 24
last year, according to court documents.
Vazquez hurled racial slurs at Singh and attacked the driver, who was forced to pull over the car. The police allege that Vazquez punched and bit Singh, pulling out his hair as he threatened him and called him a terrorist.
Vazquez had been released on a US$ 25,000 bail after the attack.
After the 9/11 terror strikes, turbaned Sikhs have been targeted in hate crime attacks in the US as people mistake them for Arabs.
