Charges against the four Broad Channel residents involved in a Halloween melee with police have been bumped up to the status of a bias crime after one of the teens told cops that he had used the N-word as a greeting for a detective on the scene.
Twenty-year-old Robert Glade, 16-year-old Nicholas Stack, as well as Rich's 44-year-old mother Patricia, also face charges of resisting arrest and inciting a riot on West 10th Road and Cross Bay Boulevard on Halloween afternoon. Each defendant faces a year in jail and/or $1,000 fine.
According to published reports, court documents filed in Queens Criminal Court on Monday, November 13, stated that Patrick Rich, 17, told the police, “I didn’t mean [racial epithet] in that way. That's just the way I talk.”
“I meant it in a friendly way,” Rich allegedly said.
As part of his defense to charges of beating a black man in a 2005 incident, Howard Beach resident Nicholas Minucci also said that he had used the N-word as part of his vernacular; he was later convicted and is now serving a 15-year sentence.
Since the Halloween ruckus, relatives of the Rich family have repeatedly told the media that no racial epithets were used by local residents or the police. In addition, the Broad Channel residents charged that the detective had swung his baton wildly at the crowd that swelled to nearly 100.
The next court appearance for the Riches, Stack, and Glade is Monday, January 8, 2007, said a spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney's office.
Halloween melee is now a bias crime
By Christina Santucci
Posted on
