Cops: Nassau Asian affairs deputy charged with assaulting boy, 10

Nassau County’s deputy director of Asian American Affairs faces multiple charges for allegedly assaulting and choking a 10-year-old boy last year, according to county records and a spokesman for the district attorney's office.

Harshdeep “Harry” Brar, 29, of Levittown, was arrested at 11 p.m. Wednesday in Woodbury and charged with criminal obstruction of breathing/strangulation, assault and endangering the welfare of a child, in connection with the alleged June 27, 2021, attack, according to the records and Nassau Police.

This strangulation charge is a felony offense. Police said they arrested Brar after the boy’s mother reported the incident at the Second Precinct in Woodbury. A police spokeswoman did not say when the incident was reported. 

Brar pleaded not guilty Thursday in First District Court to the charges before Judge Michael Montesano. The judge released Brar on his own recognizance, adjourning the case until Oct. 6 and issuing a stay away order of protection for the child and his mother, a spokesman for the Nassau County District Attorney's Office said. 

Brar's lawyer, Nipun Marwaha, said Brar “denies all the allegations” and “looks forward to vigorously defending his innocence” in court. Brar could not be reached at a phone number associated with him in public records.

Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, said in an email: “We have no comment pending the outcome of the criminal prosecution. The allegations do not involve official misconduct, however the County Executive has put Mr. Brar on administrative leave pending the County Attorney’s report on whether further action is necessary.”

Brar was hired Jan. 10, 2022, as the office’s deputy director at a salary of $80,000, according to county comptroller and legislative records.

Police said in a news release that the boy’s mother and Brar were friends at the time of the alleged attack, which occurred when all three were at the Jericho home of the woman and her son. After hearing noise from her son’s bedroom, she went in and allegedly saw Brar with his arm around the boy's neck, the release said. When she tried to intervene, Brar began “punching her son and striking her," the release said. Brar later left the house, according to police.

Marwaha said that account was incomplete and inaccurate. While Brar was in the house with the two at the time, “he never strangled anyone” and did not hit the woman, Marwaha said.

Nassau legislators created the Office of Asian American Affairs in 2019 to encourage business opportunities and address the concerns of the rapidly growing Asian American community within the county. Arooj Islam, the office’s executive director, did not respond to a request for comment left with a staffer. 

Bina Sabapathy, president of the Hicksville-based India Association of Long Island, said she was “shocked” about the arrest of a man she sometimes saw at GOP and Indian American events on Long Island.

“He said he wanted to bring the community together,” she said.

With Scott Eidler