RNA - The day after the presidential election, Esra Altun’s friends offered to walk her to her car inside a San Jose State University parking garage, but the 19-year-old Muslim student said she would be fine by herself.
As Altun approached her car that afternoon, a man came up behind her in the third-floor of the garage and pulled her by her head scarf, or hijab, causing it to tighten around her neck and choke her, she said.
Altun said she has dealt with stares and slurs for her faith, but never physical violence until now. She said on Thursday that the election of Donald Trump as president could have played a role by emboldening her attacker.
“For me, it’s kind of a weird coincidence this occurred right after Trump gets to be president-elect,” Altun said. “I’m worried not only for the Muslim community but the Latino community, the black community, the LGBT community. I’m actually terrified.”
Trump, elected the 45th president of the United States on Tuesday, said during his campaign that Muslims should be barred from entering the United States and called for a database to track American Muslims.
Altun’s friends always offer to walk her to her car, but she was alone inside the university’s west parking structure at Fourth and East San Salvador streets around 1:20 p.m. Wednesday when the man grabbed her by her head scarf, she said.
The cloth was tied around her neck so when the assailant pulled her, she began to choke. She reflexively arched her back as he pulled her down, trying to break free and hurting her back in the process, she said.
He finally let go, and she fell knee first to the ground, she said. Altun says she was not seriously injured, but was shaken up as she then drove to her 10-year-old sister’s school.
“When I picked my sister up, that’s when I started completely breaking down,” she said. “I was scared, I was terrified, I was disgusted.”
Altun said she didn’t see her attacker’s face, but noted the skin on his hand was white. He never said anything to her, and quickly ran away afterward, she said.
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