A young black man is fortunate to be alive after he was badly injured in a hit and run crash.
The 19-year-old man, who works at Southmead Hospital in the UK, was on his way back from work on July 22 when a car being driven along Monks Park Avenue ran him over in what friends and eye witnesses say was a racially motivated attack.
Friends also claim that the occupants of the car screamed “fuing nier” as they ran him into a wall, breaking his bones.
Police have now confirmed that it was a deliberate act and was racially motivated.
Detectives have stepped up their investigation into what happened and are now treating the incident as a racially aggravated assault.
A friend who shared a photo of the injured man after the attack wrote on Facebook: “A friend and colleague of mine suffered a serious racial hate crime last Wednesday 22nd July 2020 as he was coming out of work at 4pm from #SouthmeadHospital.
“He is a alive thank God, but the damage done to the young 19 year old is already too much to bear when you consider they ran him over into a wall breaking bones in his legs and cheek bones all because he is Black.
“The perpetrators could be heard screaming “F NIGGA” by at least 15 eyewitnesses as they ditched the car running off leaving him to fight for his life.
“This is the fight we are fighting when we say #blacklivesmatter #BLM #timeforchange not for any Marxist movement but for our sons and daughters, so for anyone who feels to tell me all lives matter please don’t bother ever talking to me as you’re missing the point of all this. Its so bad that we are having to deal with this in 2020. I now can’t even let my kids play outside because the risk of someone actually driving towards them because they are black is to high or just attacking them in broad day light. Lets stop the hate and now feel empathy.
“This is terrorism of the highest order but because these criminals are white and not Islamic so its not reported as such. That in its own right is a sign of racial bias.
“So my White Christian brothers and Sisters please the next time you think about standing against #BLM based on the secondary issues they stand for instead of the primary ones remember you’re being part of the problem. Just saying.
“Your kids don’t have to walk in fear of such terrors and neither do you. Spiritual issues these are yes from a church perspective, but in the wider community people are suffering and the church’s solution is to fight the one organisation that is standing up for the rights of the victims whilst not standing up loud enough for the victims itself. You see the problem here.
“I will end it there and let the picture below speak to you next time any of my white friends wants to say i have suffered racism as well.”
Bristol Live reported on the evening of the attack how eye witnesses had seen two men run off from the vehicle after the crash, and that the road had been closed for more than five hours as forensic teams scoured the scene.
Det Insp Danielle Underwood said officers have now interviewed the victim, who was rushed to nearby Southmead Hospital with serious injuries, but which were at the time not thought to be life-threatening.
She added that police have also carried out house-to-house inquiries and are still in the process of taking more than a dozen witness statements.
“We’re still in the early stages of our investigation, but the account of the victim and initial witnesses suggest a vehicle was deliberately driven at the victim and racist language was used following the collision,” she said.
