A Portland man of Middle Eastern descent says an altercation with another driver who crashed into him earlier this week led to her mocking his name, doubting his U.S. citizenship and telling him, "some of you are terrorists."

Bassel Hamieh said the comments made by the white female driver were unprovoked and came Tuesday as she refused to show her ID and insurance after she sideswiped his car in downtown Portland and continued driving until he ran after her. He took video of the encounter, which ended in her showing him her information for him to photograph and an Oregon Health & Science University public safety officer helping defuse the situation and telling Hamieh to contact him if the woman gave him any more trouble.

Hamieh posted a three-and-a-half-minute clip of the encounter, which he estimates lasted 10 minutes, onto his Facebook page later that day. It's since gotten more than 34,000 views as of Friday evening. Another version of the video posted on Twitter on Thursday has been viewed more than 172,000 times.

"She made the wrong decision to speak to me the way she did, but the issue is a systemic one," said Hamieh, a 23-year-old Portland State University honor student. "I ultimately decided to post the video to show that people like me have to deal with this kind of hate all the time for no reason other than we exist."

Hamieh was born in Portland and lived for 11 years with his family in Lebanon, where his parents were born, before returning to the U.S. The encounter harkened back to other incidents of racism he's experienced in Portland, he said. He said he was beaten up in elementary school by a friend after the boy realized Hamieh's family was of Middle Eastern ancestry and was told by a high school teacher in front of classmates that he would grow up to be a terrorist.

Hamieh said the altercation occurred after he finished taking a chemistry exam Tuesday at OHSU and was waiting for his friend to pick him up. The friend was driving Hamieh's car. Soon after he got into the passenger seat, Hamieh said, the other driver sideswiped his car and kept going.

The friend honked at the other driver to get her attention, but she kept going. Hamieh said he got out of his car and chased after the driver, who turned into the parking garage nearby at OHSU's Robertson Life Sciences Building along Southwest Moody Street. The collision left heavy scratches on the left front side of the car, Hamieh said.

Hamieh said he eventually got her attention and asked her for her ID and insurance so he could take pictures of them, but she initially refused. She denied hitting his car, said she didn't believe he was in the country legally and claimed he was going to use her identification to steal her identity.

"At first, I didn't think this was going to be an issue at all. I explain that she hit my car, show her the damage, get her information and we both move on with our lives," Hamieh said. "But then when she started bringing up my race and making this about more than what it was, I decided to record it because I didn't feel safe, and I felt I needed something to protect myself in case she later said it didn't happen."

On the video, the woman said Hamieh didn't "look like a Portland guy." She denied his assertions that she hit his car, claimed he had a "huge accent," noted that she has an "American accent" and has been "all over the world."

Hamieh continues to ask for her ID and insurance. At one point, she shows him her ID, the video shows, but has to go back to her car to get her insurance.

She later asks Hamieh who he is, mocks his pronunciation of his last name and says "I knew it," in reference to Hamieh's ethnicity. On the video, he asks her "what's wrong with Middle Easterners?"

"What do you think?" she replies. "Some of you are terrorist."

Hamieh tells her he was born in Portland, and she tells him she doubts it. She later tells him to get away from her and points her cane at him. Hamieh's friend who came to pick him up later intervenes as well as the public safety officer who was called to the scene by someone else, Hamieh said.

Hamieh said he stopped recording when the officer arrived. The woman gave Hamieh her insurance information by the time the officer showed up and told the cop that Hamieh and his friend were harassing her. Hamieh said he explained that she hit his car and he wanted her information to make an insurance claim.

The officer told the woman to not make the incident a bigger deal than it was, Hamieh said. She went on to her dentist appointment after giving Hamieh her information.

The encounter with the driver left him startled and disheartened, he said. He said he doesn't intend for the woman to receive any backlash, but he hopes she now realizes that what she said to him was wrong, understands why it was wrong and that it can help others not make people of color feel unsafe in their own communities.

"It's all about what she said and the fact that people seem to feel more and more comfortable saying these things every day," Hamieh said.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey