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On Jan 11, Billie Davis, 56, stabbed an Asian student from Indiana University in a Bloomington city bus in what officials describe as an “unprovoked racially motivated attack.”
According to Davis’ confession and eyewitness reports, the 18-year-old student and Davis were both riding a city bus. Surveillance footage shows no previous confrontation or interaction between Davis and the victim, whose name has not been revealed, as she wishes to remain anonymous. Thus far, the only known information about the victim is that she is from Carmel, a city north of Indianapolis.
When the victim stood up to leave the bus, Davis got up and stabbed the teen multiple times in the head with a folding knife, leaving the victim with puncture wounds. The attack took place on a city bus near Fourth Street in downtown Bloomington, which is several blocks from Indiana University, at around 4:45 pm. Surveillance cameras documented the attack.
Davis got off the bus after the attack and walked away, discarding her weapon before police took her into custody. According to Davis and a police affidavit, she committed this attack because the teen was Chinese, and “it would be one less person to blow up our country.” Police detained Davis at Monroe County Jail and she now faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery, and battery by means of deadly weapon. Police have not charged Davis with a hate crime because Indiana does not have a hate-crime law.
Indiana is one of the four states not to have a clear definition of a hate crime. The Anti-Defamation League’s Midwest regional director, David Goldenberg, criticized the lack of hate-crime laws in the state, saying, “Prosecutors need to prosecute these incidents as hate crimes when they are.”
First responders rushed the victim to the hospital after police found her in pain, bleeding from her head. Police called an ambulance that took her to a nearby hospital, and her status and condition are not public as of Jan 20.
In a speech to the public, Bloomington mayor John Hamilton said, “[a] racially motivated incident like this…can leave us feeling less safe…We stand with the Asian community and all who feel threatened by this event.” Indiana University’s Asian Culture Center released a statement urging students to share their feelings about this incident.
(Sources: ABC News, CNN, NPR)