(Image source from: news18.com)

A man in California was arrested on the charges of hate crime after physically attacking a Sikh employee in a coffee store by throwing hot coffee and hitting him on face as he believed the employee was an Islamic, according to a media report.

John Crain threw the hot coffee at the clerk and then continued to hit him in the face prior to running away without paying on Wednesday around 2 a.m. in Marysville, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The Sikh clerk told officers that Crain had prepared himself a cup of coffee and attempted to leave without paying, according to a Marysville Police Department press release.

As per the CCTV footage, the victim was seen confronting Crain at the front entrance prior to being attacked. The Sikh man endured wounds from the hot coffee, as well as a bruises on his face, police said.

Police said officers were dispatched to the same store later that afternoon for another reported assault and spotted Crain walking away from the place.

Later that day, officers responded to some other assault in the area and found a suspect walking away alike the description of the man from the before occurrence. The suspect was taken into custody.

Crain admitted to the officers that he had assaulted the clerk during the previous night's incident.

He told police he "hated Muslims" and attacked the Sikh clerk because he believed he's Muslim. He was later booked into Yuba County Jail under the charges of hate crime, assault, and theft.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and its allies from the Sikh community condemned the attack.

"We condemn this attack on an individual because of his faith. This hate crime represents yet another attack on our Sikh brothers and sisters fuelled by Islamophobia and those emboldened by this administration's xenophobic policies and sentiments," CAIR-SV's Civil Rights Attorney Saad Sweilem said in a statement.

"We welcome the hate crime charges and encourage law enforcement to continue to take these clear incidents of bias seriously."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation says hate crimes reports were up about 17 percent in 2017, marking a rise for the third consequent year, although violent crime in America fell somewhat in general.

-Sowmya Sangam