A Japanese American professor and Vietnam veteran was struck by a vehicle and called a racial slur while riding his bike last month in Montebello in an incident that police are investigating as a possible hate crime.
Aki Maehara, a 71-year-old Asian American history professor, suffered serious injuries to his elbow, neck, cheekbones, jaw, hips and lower back, he told The Times in an interview on Monday.
Maehara was riding his electric bicycle on Merle Drive in Montebello, not far from his home, around 10 p.m. on April 29 when headlights from a car approaching him from behind illuminated his path. He turned to check his surroundings and saw a sedan speeding toward him, he said.
“I tried to turn toward the curb to see if there was a driveway when I got hit,” he said.
Before he was struck, he heard someone yell an expletive followed by a racial slur targeting people of Chinese descent, he said. He skidded across a yard and was stopped by a brick wall. Maehara said he heard a man’s voice: “Go back to…” using an expletive and a racial slur, before the car drove off.
“It sounded suspicious to me because I wear a full-face helmet … a helmet with a visor,” Maehara said. “No one can see my face. So how the hell did he know I’m Asian?”
Maehara said he couldn’t afford to incur the cost of an ambulance ride, so he called friends who took him to the VA hospital in Long Beach.
Montebello police said they have contacted residents in the neighborhood for security camera footage, but have been unable to find video that captured the incident.
Though no arrests have been made, Maehara said he has a suspect in mind and shared their name with police. He said he’s been targeted for harassment before because of his job at East Los Angeles Community College teaching the history of racism and racist beliefs in U.S. history.
“There’s a long history,” he said. “They’ve picketed my classroom at East L.A. College. Chicano Republicans came after me and picketed me at Cal State Long Beach. The KKK came to my classroom at Cal State Long Beach when I was teaching a course on the U.S. Vietnam War. This is not the first time I’ve been targeted.”
One of his friends, Glorya Cabrera, created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his recovery, writing that Maehara urgently needs in-home care for his injuries. The VA hospital has provided him with in-home care for a few hours two days a week, but Maehara is hoping the donations will help him get additional care as he heals.
“Hate crimes are on the rise due to the vile rhetoric being used by those in Washington and in the so-called MAGA Extreme Christian Right who feel justified in their violence directed towards non-white citizens,” Cabrera wrote.
Police are continuing to search for the driver.
