A man said he was verbally attacked in a hate incident that took place inside a Fremont Taco Bell.
Krishnan Jayaraman told NBC Bay Area Friday that he was at the Taco Bell location to pick up food, when he said a man began to verbally attack him. Jayaraman said the man even spat at him at one point.
“What does this got to do with me? Why is he abusing me? What did I do wrong to be here?” he said.
Jayaraman said he immediately took out his phone, and started recording. The video shows the man calling Jayaraman "disgusting" and "nasty," and told him to not come out in public.
NBC Bay Area has blurred the video because the man is currently not considered a suspect of a crime.
“I was scared to be honest with you. I was infuriated on the one hand, but I was scared that 'what if this guy becomes too belligerent and then, comes after me?'" Jayaraman said.
The confrontation continued for over eight minutes before police arrived.
Many in the local Hindu community said that there’s been a recent rise in hinduphobia across the country, and they added the incident at the Fremont Taco Bell is the latest example.
“I think that video is so horrific,” said Pushpita Prasad. “It’s sort of what we have been dreading for a while. We’ve been seeing an increasing number of attacks on Hindu Americans.”
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Prasad is with the Coalition of Hindus of North America, a grassroots organization for Hindu education.
“Hindu hatred has been around for a while. And it’s unfortunately surfacing right now. Partly because there are a lot of actors that are sort of creating a lot of hate,” she said.
Jayaraman said what upset him even more is, turns out, his alleged attacker is also Indian. He said that he has spoken to Fremont police and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office about the incident.
While upset over the incident, Jayaraman said that he still loves living in Fremont.
“Just like any other city in the Bay Area, it’s very diverse and we absolutely love it here. So, I’m just appalled that this has happened,” he said.
The Fremont Police Department confirmed to NBC Bay Area Friday that they are actively investigating the incident. No word yet if the man in the video will face charges.
