A Bellefonte man who was assaulted June 24 said he believes he was attacked by three Iraq war veterans because they thought he was of Middle Eastern descent.

Michael Benjamin, 30, said he doesn't remember what happened after Jermaine Garrett, 25, of Walterboro, S.C., allegedly approached him on the 200 block of East College Avenue, verbally assaulted and punched him to the ground.

A police report states that Garrett, Christopher Holcomb, 22, of Kingston, Wis., and Brenton Scrudders, 22, of Milesburg, proceeded to punch and kick Benjamin on the ground and that they told Benjamin to "say hello to the wizard."

Though Benjamin doesn't remember the incident, after learning what happened and researching on the Web, he believes "the wizard" is a reference to Saddam Hussein.

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane said he has found several references to Hussein as the wizard online, but it is not a part of the prosecution's case at this point.

Benjamin said he is Filipino, with a dark complexion and brown hair and eyes.

"Once all this happened, my dad and my friend said it's probably because they thought I was Middle Eastern," he said.

The attorney for the accused men, Philip Masorti, said the term "wizard" has existed in army jargon long before Hussein became "notorious."

"If Mr. Benjamin thinks that is a reference to seeing Saddam Hussein, that is the victim's twist on the facts," Masorti said.

Benjamin said he was walking side-by-side with a friend who was untouched in the incident.

"The friend I was with is very, very white, and nothing even happened to him," Benjamin said.

Masorti would not comment on the defense's case, but Sloane said Masorti said at the June 28 preliminary hearing that Benjamin provoked the fight by making a racist comment toward Garrett, who is black.

"I think Mr. Masorti is saying it proves that the victim said something to [Garrett] in reference to the grand wizard of the [Ku Klux Klan]," Sloane said. "[Benjamin] is an ethnic minority himself; he is real sensitive about race."

Benjamin said he did not make any racial statements toward anyone that night.

"Even if I was mad at somebody, I would never say that to anybody," Benjamin said.

Benjamin's wife, Heather Benjamin, said none of the witnesses who testified at the preliminary hearing heard any racial epithets from Benjamin before the incident.

Sloane could not confirm that the "wizard" was a reference to Hussein, but said the allegations of race from the defense and from Benjamin are trivial to the outcome of the trial.

"If everyone in this case was deaf, dumb and blind, we'd all be doing the same thing," Sloane said. "In the end, it is legally completely insignificant. It doesn't justify what they did. It wouldn't make anything more serious than it is."

Masorti said the allegations that the three soldiers attacked Benjamin for no reason are false.

"Witnesses testified that they were in a verbal argument," he said. "There was one punch. There weren't repeated kicks to the torso and no injuries to his torso or ribs."

Police reports from the night of the incident state that Benjamin put his arms up in a surrender position after Holcomb, Garrett and Scrudders approached him.

According to the report, alcohol was a contributing factor in the incident, and the three men were taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, stalking and harassment, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.

Benjamin was taken to the hospital where he received multiple staples on the back of his head to seal a 5-cm laceration.

"It sounds like they were so drunk that they were throwing up in the judge's office," Sloane said. "[They were] drinking out of control and just picked on this kid and put him in the hospital."

On June 28, State College Police Sgt. John Wilson said police believe alcohol was a factor in the incident.

Sloane said the District Attorney's office had previously been willing to speed up the trial in order for the men to be able to report for duty.

But after a Centre County judge reduced the bail at the preliminary hearing, allowing the men to be released from prison, he said there is no longer any reason to have the trial bumped up.