Driver assaults man in racial attack

By Erin Smith/Chronicle Staff
GateHouse News Service

Cambridge -

An irate driver slammed a Cambridge man’s arm in his car door and tried to pull him from his car in what police suspect was a racially motivated attack in Inman Square.

As the suspect fled to his car after the attack, one woman in his car allegedly yelled, “9/11 [expletive],” while the suspect allegedly screamed, “That’s what you get for marrying a foreigner,” according to police reports. The driver was with three females, who police say were likely his wife and daughters.

Police said the 40-year-old victim’s complexion is similar to a person of Middle Eastern descent and the victim told police he thought he was attacked because of his ethnic background.

The victim told police he was walking across a city parking lot on Springfield Street Aug. 27 at 8:15 p.m. when the suspect’s gray 2007 GMC Yukon sped into the lot, nearly hitting him, according to police reports.

The victim later saw the driver walk into the Ole Mexican Grill at 11 Springfield St., where the victim was dining with his wife, police said. After they finished their meal and left the restaurant, the victim placed a written note on the windshield of the gray SUV asking the driver to slow down and use more caution, according to reports.

As the victim was getting into his car, the suspect approached him, asked if he had put a note on his car, crumbled the note and threw it on the ground, police said. The suspect began screaming, allegedly opened the victim’s car door and then slammed the car door shut on the victim’s arm, according to police reports.

The suspect then reopened the victim’s door, grabbed hold of his left arm and forcefully pulled the victim partially out of the car, according to police. The suspect only fled back to his own car after the victim’s wife called police. As the suspect drove out of the parking lot, turning right on Springfield Street, he allegedly threw a brown glass bottle out of the window, which shattered in the road, police said.

A waiter at Ole Mexican Grill told police the suspect drank two alcoholic drinks at the restaurant prior to the attack.

Police suspect a 55-year-old Plainville man in the attack but no arrests had been made in the case as of Friday.

Source: TownOnline