iNDICA News Bureau-
A Sikh American man who was subjected to racial abuse and threats of violence a year ago has moved the Sutter County district attorney’s office to bring criminal charges in the case and filed a civil suit against the Sutter County sheriff’s office and the individual who threatened him.
Rouble Paul Claire, a first-generation Sikh American and father whose family has lived in Sutter since 1973, was threatened with a racial slur and vehicular violence at a local store May 11, 2021.
A woman accosted him at South Butte Market, a local grocery store, shouting and cursing at him and calling him a “f*cking Hindu”, and threatening to “ram” him with her car. She later got into her car and sped toward him in a parking lot, swerving away at the last moment.
In a separate but related incident hours later, Claire was subjected to more racial slurs and hateful graffiti at his home. Another woman connected with the first assailant wrote “Sand N*gger” in chalk on the sidewalk outside his house and in his driveway, and called him “N*gger”.
Claire, 66, immediately notified the sheriff’s office. But after enduring months of delay and inconsistent responses, he retained the Sikh Coalition for free legal help in Oct 2021.
The coalition is now urging the district attorney’s office to bring criminal charges in the first case. Simultaneously, Claire has filed a civil suit against the sheriff’s office and the individual who threatened him.
Attorneys Gina Szeto-Wong, principal attorney at Szeto-Wong Law, and Sean Tamura-Sato, managing partner of Minami Tamaki LLP, are representing Claire in the civil case.
“I have been subject to threats, harassment and racial slurs – yet, a full year later, no one has been held accountable,” Claire complained. “For months after immediately reporting these hateful acts, I sat in silence waiting for action that never came. I did not want to have to take legal action against anyone, but this failure of justice is unacceptable. No one in our community should have to face this kind of hate and bigotry.”
Despite repeatedly appealing to the sheriff’s office for help, Claire received little aid. One deputy who responded to the chalking incident used his own water bottle to try to wash away the evidence before taking photos for the office. Another advised him not to drive on his own street to avoid any confrontation.
For months, Claire’s requests for action, charges, or even a police report documenting the incidents fell on deaf ears.
When the Sikh Coalition attorneys met with Sheriff Brandon Barnes in Dec 2021 and Jan 2022, he acknowledged that his deputies had failed to follow proper investigatory protocol in the cases. He also confirmed that one deputy had received additional training as a result.
Eventually, the coalition secured a police report detailing Claire’s experiences – in which the sheriff’s office recommended criminal charges against the woman who threatened him at the store six months after the incident.
The district attorney’s office, however, refused to press charges, citing the time that had elapsed since the incidents, ignoring the fact that the delay was caused by the sheriff’s office.
“No one deserves to feel threatened in their own community, and law enforcement – both police and prosecutors – simply must do better,” said Amrith Kaur Aakre, Sikh Coalition legal director. “Tragically, we have seen time and again that hateful interactions can lead to violent results; the case of Khalid Jabara, killed in Oklahoma in 2016 after months of verbal, bias-based harassment from a neighbor, comes to mind. The large Sikh population in this area is only more reason to ensure that all members of this community feel safe and secure.”
The coalition has urged the district attorney to bring charges of criminal threats, assault, and assault with a deadly weapon against the woman who threatened Claire with her car.
It also expressed concern about the inaction of local law enforcement in response to the racial slurs and graffiti on and around Claire’s property – and broader allegations of a pattern of inaction by the district attorney’s office in cases targeting members of marginalized communities.
“It is unacceptable that law-enforcement authorities sworn to protect Mr Claire did so little over such a long time – and then ultimately refused to pursue the justice that he deserves,” said attorney Tamura-Sato.
“This civil suit is a first step to remedying that failure as well as taking legal action against the women who threatened and harassed him, who have faced no consequences whatsoever due to Sutter County’s practice of inadequately investigating and prosecuting hate crimes against racial and ethnic minorities,” said attorney Szeto-Wong.
Sikhism is the world’s fifth largest religion. California is home to roughly half of the 500,000 Sikhs in the U.S. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sikhs are among the top five most frequently targeted religious groups in the country for hate crimes and bias incidents.
