Indian-American Woman in Seattle says she was told to ‘get out’

SEATTLE (Diya TV) — An Indian-American woman who lives in the Seattle suburb of Sammamish said while she was driving in a neighboring town, a motorist in a vehicle next to her got angry and started swearing at her. When she rolled down her window and told him to “calm down,” she said he continued swearing at her and told her to “get out.”

Tarul Kode Tripathi is a pharmacist by trade and a mother of two. She told local news outlet Kiro7 that the experience shocked her, and that she was left with a “feeling of sadness that we would have to encounter that kind of hate in our neighborhood.”

When Tripathi returned to Sammamish, she told two local police officers about the encounter. Tripathi said one of the officers told her it is important not to make such an incident personal, that it could have happened to anybody. She believes she was discriminated against because of the color of her skin, she was disappointed with the officers’ response and felt dismissed.

However, Sammamish police Sgt. Cindi West said Tripathi never told the officers any motorists screamed “get out” to her.

“Never did she say he (the other motorist) made comments about her race or religion or anything that would rise to the level of malicious harassment,” West told Kiro7.

Sammamish city manager Howard Lyman issued a statement on the incident, one which he planned on reading aloud at the town’s council meeting Tuesday. Lyman said officers were told the profanities did not include any racial or ethnic content and there was no indication a crime had been committed. When they asked if Tripathi wanted to file a police report, she declined. But that was only because she failed to catch the license plate number of the car involved in the incident, she said.

“The Sammamish police officers involved are well-trained in the arena of cultural sensitivity,” Lyman was quoted as saying in Kiro7’s report.