Avtar Singh mistook for a Muslim man.

By The American Bazaar Staff

WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian American Sikh cab driver in San Diego, California, Avtar Singh, is suing the United States after he was punched by a US naval officer who took him to be ‘possibly a Muslim.’

Singh, a naturalized US citizen from India, sued the US on December 26 in federal court, reported Courthouse News.

Singh says he picked up Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle Blackwell, who was in his uniform, and a woman at around 1 a.m. on December 20, 2013, at a bar in the Gaslamp District of San Diego.

Singh drove them to a Hilton hotel, and the woman paid and tipped him. Blackwell, however, stayed in the back seat “making some unintelligible sounds,” Singh said.

Blackwell finally got out of the back seat, on the driver’s side, slammed the door and then without a word, “punched his right fist through the driver’s side cab window, breaking the glass and striking Singh hard in the forehead,” the cab driver says, reported Courthouse News.

Singh says he leapt out of the cab and asked Blackwell what was wrong with him. Again without warning, Blackwell punched him in the mouth, Singh says, and continued beating him near the hotel elevators.

Hotel security held them for police, and Blackwell told the investigating officer that he was “‘in fear of my life because he [Singh] looked Middle Eastern, possibly from Iraq or Afghanistan,'” the complaint states. Blackwell added: “And since I was in my Navy dress blues, I thought he was possibly a Muslim extremist and wasn’t sure what he was capable of. As he got closer to me, I gave him a couple of jabs and hit him in the mouth.'”

Singh says Blackwell is still on active duty and suffered no disciplinary consequences despite “a purported investigation.”

Singh seeks damages for negligence, negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress.