Man arrested for attack on Sikh teenager, accused of hate crime
New York. A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with hate-crime attack after an attack on a Sikh teenager on a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus in New York City last week.
Christopher Filipko of East Harlem, who was arrested late Thursday, assaulted 19-year-old Mani Sandhu and tried to take off his turban.
Police said Friday that the two men were riding a shuttle bus near 118th Street and Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill on the morning of Oct. 15 when the attack occurred.
Sandhu told CBS News that he was going to a Sikh temple in Queens and was about to get off near Liberty Avenue and 118th Street when a stranger came up and attacked him.
During the attack, Sandhu was punched several times on the head and neck.
Filippoco got off the bus and boarded the bus again in an attempt to tear off Sandhu’s turban.
“He was trying to punch the back of the neck to get it off, but it didn’t happen because I was defending myself,” Sandhu told CBS News. He also tried to punch my back, neck and my nose. of.”
Sandhu said that he moved to America from India 10 months ago thinking that he would never be attacked here, but this incident disappointed me, and made me feel that I am not safe in this area.
The incident is being investigated by the NYPD (New York Police Department) Hate Crimes Unit.
Condemning the incident, the US-based Sikh Coalition said on Twitter that it was deeply troubled by the attack on a Sikh teenager.
Sikh Coalition staff attorney Amreen Pratap Singh Bhasin said in a statement, “Given that this young Sikh’s turban was desecrated and he was targeted during the attack, we are pleased to have this incident investigated as a hate crime.” Its being done.”
–IANS
