Teen pleads guilty in Douglaston bias attack

An Auburndale teen accused of being part of a bias attack in Douglaston last summer pleaded guilty last week.
On the morning of August 12, 2006, Kevin M. Brown and Paul A. Heavey allegedly beat John Lu and Reynold Liang, both 19. Lu suffered lacerations that required stitches and lost several teeth. Liang, who was punched, kicked and hit with a steering wheel lock, had a possible skull fracture and chest pain. The attack also included racial slurs.
Brown, also 19, pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree assault as a hate crime and third-degree assault as a hate crime.
“I’m happy with the outcome today. It lets me believe there’s still justice in America,” Lu said. “It was so strange to be called these names and to be told to ‘get out of the neighborhood’ where I had lived for so many years. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
Brown also pleaded guilty to second- and third-degree assault for a May 2006 incident where he admitted to hitting a pedestrian near Northern Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard with his car. Following the incident, Brown became involved in a verbal confrontation and physically assaulted the pedestrian and his son.
Brown will now be sentenced to three-and-a-half years in state prison, followed by two-and-a-half years of post-release supervision.
“The defendant has admitted that he took part in a cowardly, hate-motivated attack. His actions are a throwback to a dark time and place in American history and are an affront to civilized society,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “Queens County is the most culturally diverse county in the nation and crimes of hate will never be tolerated here. They are to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. When they do, regrettably, occur, those responsible will be brought to justice,” Brown said.
Councilmember John Liu added, “John and Reynold were viciously attacked by criminals who were filled with so much racial hatred. We’re satisfied that Brown admits his guilt and hope he spends his years in jail reflecting on that in order to re-emerge in society as a better person. We look forward to the prosecution of the other assailant, Heavey.”
Heavey, a 21-year-old resident of Little Neck is charged with assault in the second- and third-degree as a hate crime, reckless endangerment in the second degree as a hate crime, criminal mischief in the fourth-degree as a hate crime and harassment in the second-degree.