Woman afraid after bias-motivated attack at Denver’s Washington Park, police searching for suspect

A woman and her children are afraid to return to Denver’s Washington Park after she was reportedly attacked by a man in what police are calling a bias-motivated crime.

Denver’s Washington Park is a popular place to get some fresh air. A woman who wished to be identified only as “Aisha” for her own protection loved to walk there.

“I like to go there because it’s busy place. There are people walking, running, exercising,” she said.

That’s what she was doing with her baby and a friend on Tuesday when she says a man made a derogatory comment to them about her faith.

“He said, ‘Killer muslim. Allahu Akbar,'” she said.

Later, they came across him a second time. Aisha says she decided to record a video on her phone for her own protection. That’s when the man appeared to call them “evil.”

“I looked at him. I told him, ‘Racist,'” said Aisha.

Undeterred, Aisha decided to return to the park the next day with her young kids. She saw the man from the day before. Again, she says she started recording a video on her phone.

“He went to grab my phone from my hand. I keep holding my phone very tight in my left hand and my right hand. I move it away from him and, directly, he come choking me,” said Aisha.  “I can’t breathe. My kids [were] with me, and he pushed me in the back.”

Aisha says bystanders jumped in to protect her just in time.

“Like, if he keep doing that, I think I’m going to die,” said Aisha.

The Denver Police Department says officers were called to the area of South Franklin Street and East Kentucky Avenue around 10:09 a.m. that morning after receiving a report of an assault. They say the man attacked the victim and tried to take her property, but then ran away.

“It was reported during this investigation that the same suspect made bias-motivated statements to the victim the day prior. No arrests have been made at this stage of the investigation while investigators work to identify the suspect,” said the DPD. “This incident is being investigated by our bias-motivated crime investigators.”

Investigators encouraged anyone with information on the attack to contact Crime Stoppers at (720) 913-7867.

Aisha says she was taken to the hospital with injuries and examined by a forensic nurse.

Now, she says she is afraid to go outside, and her kids are traumatized from the attack.

“Yesterday when we wake up, the first thing one of my kids said for me, ‘Mom, what if you are die,'” said Aisha.

She’s asking anyone who may recognize her attacker to say something.

“Just call 911, call the police,” said Aisha.