New York, August 10, 2004
Darshan Singh
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said- Five men
were indicted yesterday in the harassment and beating of a Sikh man
who was left with multiple fractures.
Salvatore Maceli, 26, his brother Nicholas Maceli, 22,
and their stepfather, Victor Cosentino, 58, all of Valley Stream; Terence
Lyons, 53, of Elmont; and Ryan Meehan, 24, of Forest Hills were charged
with second-degree assault as a hate crime, second-degree assault and
second-degree aggravated harassment, Brown said.
The men taunted Rajinder Singh Khalsa, 50, and Gurcharan
Singh, 51, outside a restaurant in the Richmond Hill section July 11.
The five allegedly called the Sikhs' turbans "dirty curtains"
and demanded that they remove them. Police said Khalsa was attacked
by some of the men and punched in the face repeatedly. He was treated
at Jamaica Hospital for a broken nose and other injuries.
Brown said, "Crimes motivated by bias - particularly
those involving violence - can never be tolerated". "Hate
crimes do more than threaten the safety and welfare of all citizens.
They inflict on the victims incalculable physical and emotional damage
and tear at the very fabric of a free society."
All five men, defendants remain free on bail.