By Ryan Flinn
The victims, both 16, were taking part in a get-out-the-vote drive by the Merrick Park Baptist Church, when a group of young men approached them shouting ethnic slurs and started to kick and punch them, said police. One victim suffered a bruised eye and chipped teeth, while the other had bruises to his face, police said.
Police called to the scene arrested Marlon Fernandez, 21, and two 16 year-olds, charging them with third-degree assault as a hate crime and other charges. The victims were treated and released at North Shore Hospital.
“These defendants are charged with assaulting the victims, and that assault was motivated at least in part by racial bias,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
The teens were participating in a Get Out the Vote drive sponsored annually by the A. Philip Randolph Institute.
Hate crimes received attention in March when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced the creation of a Hate Crimes Task Force. Almost $4 million was allocated to the New York Police Department for the Task Force, and an additional $1.2 million was given to the city's district attorneys' offices for prosecution of hate crimes offenders.
“Crimes motivated by ethnic or racial bias – particularly those involving violence – are deplorable and can never be tolerated,” Brown said.
