Man Caught on Camera Beating Clerk With Bat, Champagne Bottle

Police are looking for a suspect who committed a violent assault that was captured on surveillance video.

The attack happened Tuesday around 5:30 a.m. at a San Bernardino 76 gas station, said San Bernardino Police Department Lt. Mike Madden, and involved the suspect hitting the victim with both a bat and a champagne bottle.

Jasvinder Singh was behind the counter, on the phone with a family member, when a man walked inside and asked for $20 in gas. The man wanted to use an EBT card for the gas and cash, Singh said, and became angry when he was informed that the card wouldn't work at the station.

Surveillance video from the store shows the man pushing over a cigar display and a wine display before heading around the counter and throwing a flurry of punches.

"He said to go back to my country. Go back. Why did you come here?" Singh said. "He said, 'Muslim, Muslim, and I told him I'm not Muslim; I'm Punjabi."

Singh grabbed a bat for protection, but the assailant wrestled it away and beat him with it. The man also beat Singh with a champagne bottle, continuing to hit him until Singh escaped outside and ran across the street. That's when the man finally walked away and got into a white car.

"It was like attempted murder," Singh said. "It was not just an attack."

Singh is now recovering from severe bruising all over his body and believes the attack was, in part, racially motivated. "He wanted to kill me," he said.