Nashville Man Harassed, Assaulted 2 Muslim Girls At Bus Stop: Police

NASHVILLE, TN — A 32-year-old man cursed, slurred and threatened two Muslim high-school students after they got off the school bus on Lebanon Pike Tuesday afternoon, according to an arrest report.

The two sisters, both McGavock High School students and both wearing the hijab, told police they were walking along the road when Christopher Beckham approached them and told them "to go back to their country" and "that they were not welcome in America."

(For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

One of the sisters said she told Beckham to "f--- off" and he started walking toward them and said he was going to beat them up. Coincidentally, the girls' father was driving by in his taxi as this occurred.

The father stopped his cab and confronted Beckham, he told police. He said Beckham then pulled a knife and began yelling racial slurs and swinging the pocket knife. After a scuffle during which both Beckham and the father were injured, the girls and their dad got into the cab, called police and followed Beckham until officers arrived.

The arresting officer wrote in his report that while in the patrol car, Beckham continued to yell racial slurs and threatened to kill the girls and their father when he was released from jail.

He is charged with two counts of assault and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Image via Metro Nashville Police