Jan 21, 2009 7:13 pm US/Eastern
Brutal Attack Has NYC Sikh Community In Uproar
Community Leaders Say What Happened To Jasmir Singh Was Nothing Short Of A Vicious Bias Crime
QUEENS (CBS) ―
A young Sikh man has fallen victim to a brutal attack in Queens. He was so badly beaten he may lose his left eye.
The young man's family wants police to pursue this not just as an assault but as a bias crime against Sikhs.
Jasmir Singh got 18 stitches in his eye. He knows he may never have use of it again.
"Yeah, there's a slim chance I will gain vision, let alone keep the eye," Singh told CBS 2 HD.
The immediate concern is that left eye. But why Singh had to be rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, what happened on a nearby block early Sunday morning, well, that's what has his father and the Sikh community even more concerned. They said the three men that went after Singh, first asking for money.
"I emptied my pockets and showed them that I didn't have any money on me," Singh said.
It appears they continued to go after him because he had a small turban and wore the long hair and beard that is an important part of the Sikh faith.
"They touched my hair and my beard and questioned why I had it so long, said that they were gonna cut it," Singh said.
That, say the Sikhs -- taunting because of their hair -- should classify what happened as a bias crime. But the police and the Queens district attorney have not done that, calling it a robbery and an assault.
"This is a hate crime. This is a racial crime as well as hate crime," father Jiwan Singh said.
That same night, police arrested two of the three suspects: a 16-year-old Asian Pacific male and a 21-year-old Latino. Singh was walking with a friend that day and he said after a long pause he didn't realize the gravity of the situation that day until it was too late.
"It didn't really come to mind; I was just hoping that l'd get through this, and I was hoping that my friend was all right," Singh said.
He was just hoping his friend was all right. When he tried running to a nearby 24-hour grocery store, they tackled him, dragged him from the store and cut his eye with a bottle.
Police are still searching for the third suspect.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Looming Storm Likely To Bury NYC, Suburbs 
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments