LONGMONT, Colo. – A Honduran recovers after saying he hit a guy who told him to “leave my country. “
Jorge Rodriguez said Sunday that he was leaving a liquor store behind hover Street shortly before five o’clock in the afternoon and paid with a $100 bill, so he stopped to count his replacement, blocking a red van looking to catch him. Rodriguez said that while contaba. su replacement, the driving force began to honk his horn, so he made a sign of apology. He said it took him less than five seconds to make sure his replacement was right and that either pilot left.
But things turned violent near Garden Acres Park.
Rodriguez said the driving force of the van, which had driven in front of him, braked suddenly and blocked his vehicle, then a guy jumped.
Rodriguez said his truck had stopped working, so he was also handed over just as the guy hit him, said that at one point the attack hit the ground, said he remembered asking the suspect why he beat him and repeated that he said he was sorry. He said he heard the suspect scream, “Leave my country, what are you doing here?”
He said two spectators shouted things.
Rodriguez said the guy who assaulted him had hit him at least 30 times; received blows so his head that he feared for his life, he said; said a pregnant woman driving the van told the suspect not to hit him and come back. in the truck.
The beating took Rodriguez to the hospital. He suffered nose damage, scratches and bruises.
Before the attack, he said he may only see the softness and shadows in his left eye, that he had saved for eye surgery and that he had an appointment scheduled, but now he said he may not see that eye. I wasn’t sure I’d get my eyes back.
Rodriguez filed a police report with the Longmont Police Department, which is investigating the incident as an attack and is further investigating whether it is a hate crime.
Suspect’s still on the fugitive. He is described as a blond boy in his thirties, is about five feet and five inches tall and weighs 17 and five pounds. He’s got tattoos on both arms and in a red van.
In 2008, Rodriguez fled poverty in Honduras and moved to the United States. For more than 10 years, he has worked in a structure in Colorado. He said he’d never experienced anything like the racism he felt on Sunday. He said he didn’t know the guy or woguy in the truck or why he had a target.
Joshua Stallings, a regional organizer of the Northern Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, has created a GoFundMe to cover Rodriguez’s expenses. His organization is one of many people who paint for Rodriguez to get justice.
“One thing that is very vital to perceive is that telling other people to leave our country or telling someone to ‘Go home’ or ‘go back to Mexico’, which in Jorge’s case isn’t even where he comes from – those are examples of hate,” Stallings said. We need to make sure it’s classified as a hate crime and that this kind of thing won’t happen again. “
Rodriguez said the police branch has been satisfied, but that he would like more Hispanic officials than Hispanics to record police reports.