My brother and I immediately jumped in a taxi and rushed to the hospital, where we finally saw Prabhjot being wheeled in, bloody and bruised, his face swollen from a fractured jaw. We joined Prabhjot in his hospital room and were surprised to find it already filled with officers from the NYPD and its Hate Crime Task Force. After the attack, he described being punched repeatedly and then falling to the ground, the head punches continuing as he lay on the sidewalk.  Dr. Prabhjot Singh, a professor in Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, was walking along 110th Street near Lenox Avenue Saturday night when a group of at least 20 males rode up on bikes and began physically assaulting him while shouting “terrorist” and “get Osama.” Singh, a Sikh who wears a long beard and a turban, had just dropped off his wife and one-year-old son at home before going out for a walk. While refusing to give details on the victim, an NYPD spokesman confirmed to the Columbia Spectator that attackers “made anti-Muslim statements and then they began punching the victim in the face.” 
 
 According to Dr. Singh’s friend Simran Jeet Singh (no relation), Dr. Singh is an important figure in the community: 
 
 Prabhjot has dedicated his life to serving the underserved. He is currently the Director of Systems Management at the Earth Institute, and he draws upon his experiences abroad to help improve the health of local communities like Harlem. In addition to serving as an Assistant Professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, he is also a resident physician at Mt. Sinai Hospital. His life's work has been to help the underprivileged access quality and affordable healthcare, and he believes strongly that his countless hours of service are an investment in improving the health of impoverished communities.
– In what police are investigating as a hate crime, a Columbia University professor was badly beaten on a New York City street Saturday by a mob that apparently believed he was a Muslim. Police say Prabjot Singh, a 31-year-old Sikh, was attacked just blocks from his home by a group of more than 20 young men on bikes who called him a terrorist and shouted "Get Osama!" Singh, who was saved when passersby intervened, was left with injuries including a fractured jaw, reports the Columbia Spectator. Friend Simran Jeet Singh describes the attack in the Huffington Post, noting that the professor had been taking an evening walk after dropping his wife and 1-year-old at home. "He couldn't speak because many of his teeth had been displaced, but he waved limply to let us know that he was OK," he writes of seeing Singh at the hospital. "It’s incredibly sad," Singh himself tells the New York Daily News. "It’s not the neighborhood I know. I work in this community. It’s just not American." Gawker points out that Singh himself noted in a New York Times article on anti-Sikh violence last year that the turbans and long beards of Sikh men have often marked them out as targets for discrimination both in India and overseas. (It's not the only alleged hate crime NYC has suffered in recent weeks.)