A man has reportedly threatened to torch a University of Michigan student for wearing a hijab. She was forced to remove her head covering and reported the incident to the Ann Arbor Police Department.
The Michigan Daily reported that a female student of the University of Michigan was approached by a man between 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. last Friday. The man told her that, if she would not remove her hijab, he would set her on fire using a lighter.
The woman complied and removed her hijab. She then left and reported the threat to the Ann Arbor Police Department.
The University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security released a crime alert describing the incident as an intimidation crime. It happened on East William Street near State Street.
The suspect was described as a white male, aged between 20 and 30 years old. He was believed to be intoxicated, with slurred speech.
"Police officers with both the city and the University Police Department are disturbed by this report of hate crime in our community," UMPD spokesperson Diane Brown said. "Officers are conducting additional patrols of the area and anyone who might have information, who witnessed the incident, or information about the suspect are strongly encouraged to contact the Ann Arbor Police, as they are actively investigating this incident."
Twitter user Will Potter tweeted a photo of the crime alert. The investigation is ongoing.
Some students asked why the alert was not released sooner since the incident occurred early Friday evening. The alert was sent out on Saturday afternoon.
"We were working together on it," Brown said. "The Ann Arbor Police thought they might have had a lede but today since they didn't have it solved, we felt strongly we needed to get this information to our community."
She also told The Washington Post that they consider the incident as a hate crime. This is one of the latest reported hostile acts against minority students in campuses since Donald Trump became president-elect. Recently, UPenn black students received hateful, racist text messages.
