5 Jewish Brooklyn Teenagers Charged for Attacking Pakistani
Arab News
BROOKLYN, New York, 5 November 2006 — Five Jewish Brooklyn teenagers have been charged with hate crimes after they brutally attacked a Pakistani man last week with brass knuckles, shouting at him that he had to leave the country and return to where he came from, according to a report from CBS News.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office has filed hate crime charges against the five Brooklyn teens, three of whom were charged as adults. The charges stem from an apparent assault of a Pakistani man.
Arrested were Benjamin Wasserman and Shulomi Bitton, both 16, and Yossi Friedman, 17. Two others will be tried as juveniles.
The DA has identified the victim as Shahid Amber, 24, a lab technician of Midwood, who says he was beaten by a group of Jewish teens wearing skullcaps. Amber says they injured his jaw and broke his nose. “When this kind of thing happens, this completely shakes me up,” Amber says.
The incident happened Sunday night around 8 p.m. outside a Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts shop on Avenue M near East 15th Street.
Amber, who is from Pakistan, says he was outside the shop eating an ice cream, when a group of 10 to 15 teens and young adults started taunting him with racial slurs. “They hit me in the face with brass knuckles four or five times while somebody held my hands. Then they all beat and kicked me. They were screaming ‘Muslim m-f-r. You m-f-g Muslim terrorists. Go back to your country,’” he recalled.
“They were saying, you Muslim scumbag, you have f---ed up this country. You don’t have the right to live here. Go back to your country.”
Amber says three of the teens came over to him, knocked the ice cream out of his hand, and spit at him in the face. “I was cleaning my face, the spit from my face, and I see a punch coming to my face with brass knuckles on, and he hit me on the nose,” he said. His nose gushed blood as others joined in punching and kicking.
Surprisingly, he says, when an ambulance and police arrived, his five attackers were still there.
Amber said he pointed out his five attackers to police.
Those arrested were charged with assault, assault as a hate crime, menacing, aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon, for the brass knuckles.
The defendants who are charged as adults will face their next court hearing Friday. The two defendants who were charged as minors were released to their parents.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Joel Levy said, “The man was attacked by these people who identified him as a Muslim and claimed that was the reason they attacked him and that’s of tremendous concern to us because he wasn’t attacked just as an individual, but as a member of the Muslim community.”
BROOKLYN, New York, 5 November 2006 — Five Jewish Brooklyn teenagers have been charged with hate crimes after they brutally attacked a Pakistani man last week with brass knuckles, shouting at him that he had to leave the country and return to where he came from, according to a report from CBS News.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office has filed hate crime charges against the five Brooklyn teens, three of whom were charged as adults. The charges stem from an apparent assault of a Pakistani man.
Arrested were Benjamin Wasserman and Shulomi Bitton, both 16, and Yossi Friedman, 17. Two others will be tried as juveniles.
The DA has identified the victim as Shahid Amber, 24, a lab technician of Midwood, who says he was beaten by a group of Jewish teens wearing skullcaps. Amber says they injured his jaw and broke his nose. “When this kind of thing happens, this completely shakes me up,” Amber says.
The incident happened Sunday night around 8 p.m. outside a Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts shop on Avenue M near East 15th Street.
Amber, who is from Pakistan, says he was outside the shop eating an ice cream, when a group of 10 to 15 teens and young adults started taunting him with racial slurs. “They hit me in the face with brass knuckles four or five times while somebody held my hands. Then they all beat and kicked me. They were screaming ‘Muslim m-f-r. You m-f-g Muslim terrorists. Go back to your country,’” he recalled.
“They were saying, you Muslim scumbag, you have f---ed up this country. You don’t have the right to live here. Go back to your country.”
Amber says three of the teens came over to him, knocked the ice cream out of his hand, and spit at him in the face. “I was cleaning my face, the spit from my face, and I see a punch coming to my face with brass knuckles on, and he hit me on the nose,” he said. His nose gushed blood as others joined in punching and kicking.
Surprisingly, he says, when an ambulance and police arrived, his five attackers were still there.
Amber said he pointed out his five attackers to police.
Those arrested were charged with assault, assault as a hate crime, menacing, aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon, for the brass knuckles.
The defendants who are charged as adults will face their next court hearing Friday. The two defendants who were charged as minors were released to their parents.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Joel Levy said, “The man was attacked by these people who identified him as a Muslim and claimed that was the reason they attacked him and that’s of tremendous concern to us because he wasn’t attacked just as an individual, but as a member of the Muslim community.”
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 2:04 AM
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