Teen charged with hate crime after attack at Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station, Suffolk police say
Yuvraj Bindra and Chazbir Singh Bedi, both 13, in Syosset on Tuesday. Bedi said he was punched in the face by a teenager at the Walt Whitman Shops on Saturday. Credit: Newsday / Raychel Brightman
A 13-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with a hate crime after he punched another boy in the face and made "biased comments" during a dispute at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station, Suffolk County police said.
The victim, who a news release said was not injured, and another boy — both 13 and both who wear traditional Sikh headwear known as patkas — told Newsday earlier in the week that the teen had made anti-Sikh comments.
The arrested teen, whose name was not disclosed, was charged with aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor. He was taken into custody Thursday night and is due to appear at Suffolk County Family Court at a later date, a police news release said.
No additional arrests were anticipated, according to the police department’s public information office.
Chazbir Singh Bedi told Newsday he was punched in the face by a teenager, one of several who taunted him and his friend, Yuvraj Bindra, on Saturday. The teens said one of those in the group the attacker was in made a comment — intended as a religious or ethnic slur — at them.
"I told them to chill out," Bindra said. One of the teens immediately threatened him, he said.
The two tried to walk away, they said, but the group followed them.
"And I turn around … and little do I know this kid is about to punch me," Bedi said. "He walks up, he jumps in front of me and he hits me with a closed fist on the left side of my face."
Bedi said he had pointed out the attacker in a photo array of three teens shown to him by a cop at the mall.
Bedi, who goes by Chaz, said he feels safer now that the attacker has been arrested.
"It just gave us a feeling of security," he said, adding: "This kid is definitely angry at me."
He said: "I don’t think he’s learned his full lesson yet. He still hasn’t been educated on our culture and religion."
Bedi, who is in eighth grade, said the mall incident wasn’t the first time he’d been attacked or ridiculed over his religion or attire. Last year, a fellow student pulled off his headwear in art class; the student was disciplined, exhibited a change in behavior, and now the two are friends, he said.
And this year, another young man called him a profanity and made ethnic slurs in an internet group chat room, he said.
Satbir Singh, 46, Bedi's father, said Friday afternoon: "We went for charges just to educate the community." Still, he said, "I feel bad for the parents of the kid who did this."
Singh said he was disappointed that only one of the teens was arrested — not the one who threatened to knock the headwear off his son’s head or the others who followed him and the other teen around, forcing them to hide until being helped by mall employees.
He said police told him that only the one who actually punched his son could be charged.
"To attack someone because of how they look is not right," said Singh, a real estate developer and landlord. "We need to do a better job of educating our kids."
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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