Authorities said Monday night that a man has been charged with a hate crime after a video appeared to show him verbally abusing a man at a Taco Bell in Fremont, California, who was waiting for his order.
According to the Freemont Police Department, 37-year-old Singh Tejinder was “seen and heard directing religious slurs and derogatory comments towards” Krishnan Iyer on August 21.
In this video, Krishnan Jayaraman is the victim hidden from view. While Jayaraman was waiting for his order last Sunday, Singh allegedly started shouting racist remarks at him, prompting him to start recording.
“A few minutes later he again said hey pick up your bean burrito and leave. You’re a vegetarian right? You don’t eat beef. You should eat beef. You Indians should eat beef,” Jayaraman said.
Jayaraman says this was their only interaction before the man went on his tirade.
“I’m not here to pick a fight with you,” Jayaraman said. “What do you want, and he said you know you Hindus are a shame, disgusting. Then he spat on me.”
At that point, according to Jayaraman and a restaurant employee, they called Fremont police. He said that the man yelled nonstop for over eight minutes.
In order to avoid the possibility that the man would be waiting outside for him, Jayaraman claims he waited inside the Taco Bell for the police to arrive.
