Triceton Bickford appears in his mugshot. Monroe County Sheriff’s Office

INDIANAPOLIS — A 19-year-old Indiana University student was arrested over the weekend for allegedly attacking a Muslim woman while she and her daughter sat inside a cafe. 

Witnesses say Triceten Brickford shouted ethnic slurs at the 47-year-old woman and her 9-year-old daughter. The teen screamed “white power” and “kill them all” before attacking the woman, according to WTTV-TV. 

Bickford slammed the woman’s head against the table and tried to choke her as he removed her headscarf. 

The woman’s husband and another man ran to help her. The two men pinned Bickford to the ground while Bickford threatened them and spit in their faces, the Indiana Daily Student reported. 

Following his arrest, Bickford kicked the patrol car’s windows and bit an officer on the leg at the Monroe County jail after being transported there. 

Bickford faces charges of: One count of intimidation, one count of public intoxication, two counts of misdemeanor battery, one count of felony-level battery, one count minor consumption of alcohol and one count strangulation. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy organization, urged for Monroe County officials to bring bias charges against the alleged assailant.

“We urge prosecutors to bring a ‘bias crime’ charge in this case as outlined under Indiana’s Criminal Code,” said CAIR’s Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.

Bickford’s bail was set at $2,000.

“We are concerned that the low bail in this case is an indication that it is not being taken as seriously as it should given the allegations of violence and the alleged bias motive,” Hooper said. 

Indiana University released the following statement about the attack:

“Indiana University is aware of the horrifying incident involving one of our students and a member of the Bloomington Muslim community over the weekend.

This type of abhorrent behavior is not representative of our students, nor of the culture of inclusion and tolerance so many people at the university and in the Bloomington community have worked so hard to foster. The university is closely monitoring the Bloomington Police investigation into this matter, and IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel has instructed the Dean of Students office to conduct its own investigation into the incident.”