ITHACA, N.Y. — For the second time in as many weeks, the Ithaca Police Department (IPD) has announced an investigation into a “potential hate crime” that occurred on the Ithaca Commons over the weekend.
According to IPD Sgt. Matthew Braman, police responded to a dispute report on the Commons on Saturday around 12:15 a.m. Upon arrival, police found two victims who said they had been attacked physically by four people, who also “made derogatory comments about the victim’s ethnicity” during the assault.
Braman said the victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the incident.
The suspects were described as two Black men, one who was wearing a gray sweatshirt and black pants and the other wearing blue jeans and a black sweatshirt, and two white men, one wearing tan pants and a gray shirt and the other wearing gray pants and a gray shirt.
Braman did not disclose what comments specifically were made during the attack. The investigation is ongoing and police are asking the witnesses to come forward with any information about the incident.
The incident is another in a string of racist or discriminatory episodes in Ithaca over the last several weeks. Police reported that on Aug. 17 a person was physically assaulted on Cascadilla Street after derogatory comments were made about the victim’s gender identity, leading to another hate crime investigation.
That incident came after local Black community members began speaking out about two racist experiences at Stewart Park earlier this summer and threats directed at Ithaca City School District administrators and board members, leading local preacher Rev. Peaches Gillette to jumpstart a “Community Watch Group” initiative.