Bellingham man charged with hate crime in attack on Sikh Uber driver pleads not guilty
The Bellingham man charged with a hate crime after allegedly strangling a Sikh American Uber driver in early December while making comments about the driver’s skin color, Indian heritage and turban, has pleaded not guilty.
Grifin Levi Sayers, 22, pleaded not guilty Friday, Dec. 13, in Whatcom County Superior Court to second-degree assault and malicious harassment, Washington state’s felony hate crime statute.
Sayers was released from Whatcom County Jail on Dec. 6 on $13,000 bail, according to court records. Sayers’ jury trial is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 24, 2020.
“With this case, it’s really important to remember that he is presumed innocent, and not jump to conclusions until both sides of the case are heard,” Angela Anderson, Sayers’ contract public defender, told The Bellingham Herald.
In a press release Dec. 11, the Sikh Coalition applauded the decision to charge Sayers with a hate crime.
“We are grateful to the Bellingham Police Department for recognizing the clear influence of bias from the beginning of this case, and to the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for reaching the right decision,” Sikh Coalition Legal Director Amrith Kaur said in the release. “Acknowledging the role of targeted hatred in acts of violence is the first step in combating further such incidents, and taking hate crimes seriously and prosecuting them with the right tools is the surest way forward to making our communities safer.”
Shortly after 4 a.m. on Dec. 5, a Sikh-American Uber driver called 911 to report he was assaulted by a passenger.
Bellingham police responded to the 1400 block of Barkley Boulevard to meet the driver, who had fled on foot from his vehicle and passenger. The driver told police he picked up his passenger, identified as Sayers, at his apartment on Barkley Boulevard, drove him to get fast food and cigarettes and then took him back home, according to court records.
As they arrived at Sayers’ home, the driver told police Sayers became verbally and physically abusive, the records state. While making comments about the driver’s skin color, his Indian heritage and the turban he was wearing, Sayers allegedly grabbed the front of the driver’s throat squeezed, court records state.
The driver later told police that he believed his race was the reason he was assaulted, and that if he was white, the assault wouldn’t have happened, court records show.
Sayers admitted to police he was a passenger in the driver’s car and that the pair had a conversation about the driver’s country of origin, but denied assaulting him, the records state.
“Quite often I hear people say that this is not pervasive or that it’s not a big deal. But it is a big deal for a person and for a community to feel targeted,” said Jasmit Singh, a Sikh community leader in the greater Seattle area and member of the Attorney General’s Multidisciplinary Hate Crime Advisory Working Group. “When this happens to a community member, there is a ripple effect that goes to through the entire community. Everybody feels unsafe, everybody feels unsettled, and it’s times like this when people in the broader community need to stand with the community and say this is not acceptable behavior, this is not how things should be. That reassurance is hugely important for any community that is getting targeted.”
According to FBI data provided by the Anti-Defamation League Pacific Northwest Region in a press release, 20% of all hate crimes in 2018 were motivated by religious bias.
The Sikh Coalition said there are between 60,000 and 75,000 Sikhs living in Washington state and 15 gurdwaras (Sikh houses of worship). It also estimates that Washington is the third-most dangerous state in the nation for Sikhs after the coalition tracked public media accounts, law enforcement reports and private reporting of hate crimes against Sikhs since 2015, the release stated.
Singh said he wanted to reassure the Sikh community that while a lot more can be done, Washington has worked hard to track and handle hate and bias across the state. Singh said that with the rise in hate crimes over the last decade, there is still a lot of work to do, “but it doesn’t mean things aren’t moving in the right direction.”
Singh said the support from various local leaders, Bellingham police and the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office have been important first steps in addressing hate in Whatcom County, and that they’re good examples for how to support members from different communities and backgrounds.
“When you see a bunch of people stand shoulder to shoulder next to you, and with a strong message say that otherization is not acceptable and that we believe we can all respect each other and live together in communities trying to do good for communities — that is the resounding message that needs to be sent out,” Singh said. “That creates a bond of people living in different communities.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 1:04 PM.
