By Cathy Locke and Bill Lindelof
clocke@sacbee.com
A civil liberties group is calling on the FBI to investigate the beating of a cab driver.
West Sacramento Police are investigating an incident in which a taxi driver was assaulted and robbed early Sunday morning.
Officers responded to the 600 block of Lighthouse Drive about 1:50 a.m. Sunday and found the taxi driver, who reported that he had been assaulted.
The driver told police he had picked up four people in Sacramento and driven them to West Sacramento, where two of the passengers began assaulting him and demanded money. A third passenger tried to stop the assault but was assaulted herself, according to a Police Department news release.
The taxi driver fled when the passengers got out of the cab.
Police said the taxi driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. The passenger who was assaulted was not located.
Police said the assault and robbery appeared to be an isolated incident and, contrary to some media reports, it is not being investigated as a hate crime.
However, the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, (CAIR) wants the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the attack.
Leaders suspect that the the taxi driver, who is Sikh, was mistaken as Muslim and attacked for that reason.
Two of the subjects were described as men, possibly Hispanic, 30 to 35 years old. The other two passengers were described only as females.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the West Sacramento Police Department at (916) 617-4900.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 321-5287.
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