BLOOMINGTON, Ind.
(AP) — A 19-year-old Indiana University student accused of trying to
remove a Muslim woman's headscarf and shouting racial slurs says he had
been drinking alcohol and hadn't taken his anti-anxiety medication prior
to the incident.
Triceten D.
Bickford has been charged with multiple felony charges, including
intimidation, strangulation and battery, in the attack Saturday evening at
a Turkish cafe at 340 S. Walnut in
Bloomington, Indiana. He was released on $705 bond and other fees, and
returned to class Monday.
A probable cause
affidavit says officers responded to reports of an assault about 7:30 p.m.
Saturday.
The woman was
sitting at a table with her 9-year-old daughter when a man emerged from a
nearby alley shouting racial slurs, as well as "white power" and "kill the
police." According to the affidavit, the man grabbed the woman by the neck
and forced her head onto the table, restricting her breathing while trying
to remove her headscarf. The woman's husband and a passer-by dragged him
off and restrained him on the sidewalk until police arrived.
The man spit in
the faces of the husband and passers-by, threatened to kill them and
arriving officers, tried to kick out the windows of a patrol car and bit
an officer on the calf at the Monroe County Jail, the affidavit says.
Long after the
attack, the woman was still cradling and comforting her traumatized
daughter who continued to cry even after police had taken the assailant
away.
The woman
complained of neck pain following the attack, but declined medical
treatment.
Federal
authorities could also bring hate crime charges against Bickford. Wendy
Osborne, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Indianapolis, told TV station WXIN
that the agency is considering whether to open a civil rights case.
Bickford told
WTHR-TV in Indianapolis he has no memory of the incident and that a
combination of drinking alcohol and not taking his anti-anxiety medication
caused him to snap. He said he is not a hateful person.
"I am so sorry to
that woman," Bickford told the TV station. "I have no idea who she is, but
words can't explain how much that ... I've never hurt someone like that
before."
The Associated
Press sent an email to Bickford and seeking comment Tuesday.
Ibrahim Hooper, a
spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the attack
fits a nationwide pattern.
"We've seen a
tremendous spike in the level of anti-Muslim sentiment in our society and
increasingly violent hate rhetoric," in recent years.
"I don't think
intoxication is an excuse for violence or bigotry," he said.
Hooper said the
low bail set for Bickford suggests authorities aren't taking the assault
seriously.
He said CAIR
wants prosecutors to consider filing a state bias crime charge against
Bickford. That statute is used in cases where the victim was chosen
because of their "color, creed, disability, national origin, race,
religion, or sexual orientation."
Court records
don't list an attorney who could comment for Bickford. Monroe County's
chief deputy prosecutor, Robert Miller, said the office hasn't been
contacted by any attorney on Bickford's behalf.
An initial court
hearing is set for Friday.
The university in
Bloomington, about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, issued a statement
Monday saying it was aware of the "horrifying incident" and that the dean
of students would investigate.