A Japanese-American professor and Vietnam veteran were hit by a car and called racial slander while riding a bicycle in Montebello last month, a incident that police are investigating possible hate crimes.

He told The Times in an interview Monday that he was 71-year-old Asian American history professor Aki Maehara, who suffered severe injuries to his elbows, neck, che bones, chin, hips and lower back.

Maehara was riding an electric bike on Merle Drive in Montebello at about 10 pm on April 29, when the headlights were illuminated by the headlights from behind a car toward him. He said he turned to check the surroundings and saw a car heading towards him.

"I tried to turn to the side of the road and see if there was a lane when I was hit," he said.

He said he heard someone shouting a picky person, then racial slander, targeting people of Chinese descent, he said. He slid across the yard and was blocked by brick walls. Maehara said he heard a man’s voice: “Back to…” and then slandered with a tenacious racial slander before the car drove.

"It sounds suspicious to me because I wear a full-face helmet...a helmet with a sun visor," Mehalla said. "No one can see my face. So how did he know I'm Asian?"

Maehara said he couldn't afford the ambulance, so he called a friend and he took him to a Virginia Hospital in Long Beach.

Montebello police said they had contacted nearby residents for security camera footage but could not find videos of the incident.

Although no one has been arrested, Mehara said he had a suspect and shared their names with police. He said he has been harassed because of his work at East Los Angeles Community College teaches the history of racism in American history of racism.

"They picketed my classroom at East Los Angeles College. Chicano Republicans came to me and picked me up on my Cal State Long Beach. When I was teaching classes in the American Vietnam War, KKK came to my classroom at Cal State Long Beach. This wasn't the first time I've been targeted."

One of his friends, Glorya Cabrera, created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for recovery and wrote that Maehara desperately needs to be injured at home. VA Hospital provides him with hours of home care two days a week, but Mehara hopes the donation will help him get more care after he recovers.

“Hate crimes are increasing due to Washington and the so-called Maga Extreme Christian rights, which they use evil remarks in violence against non-white citizens,” Cabrera wrote.

Police are continuing to look for the driver.