Brooklyn DA Decries B’wick Bias Crimes
Brooklyn’s chief prosecutor came to Bushwick on Tuesday, Oct. 28, to announce that a local man was indicted in connection with a recent local shooting that law enforcement agents declared a bias crime.
Matthew Smith, 20, of Putnam Avenue was charged in a 13-count indictment which included second-degree attempted murder and first- and second-degree assault counts classified as hate crimes, Kings County District Attorney Ken Thompson stated during his announcement at Maria Hernandez Park.
As previously reported in the Times Newsweekly, Smith allegedly shot a 22-year-old man who was dressed as a woman in the vicinity of Putnam and Bushwick avenues on the morning of Sept. 27. Prior to the gunfire, authorities said, the suspect and two cohorts-Cody Sigue, 22, of Putnam Avenue in Bushwick and Tavon Johnson, 17, of Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant-allegedly hurled homophobic slurs at the victim, who was walking with two other friends.
Bushwick suffered another hate crime just two weeks later on Oct. 13, Thompson noted, when a 28-year-old transgender woman was brutally assaulted by a group of unidentified males in the area of Bushwick Avenue and Halsey Street.
As in the previous incident, the group-described as four black males-shouted anti-gay epithets at the victim and her companion, a gay man, before the violence broke out.
The victim, who was struck in the head with a plexiglass plank, suffered severe head trauma and remains hospitalized in critical condition, the district attorney noted.
The investigation in that case is ongoing, and Thompson urged the public to come forward with tips. Anyone with information regarding the suspects’ whereabouts is urged to call the Kings County DistrictAttorney’s Office Civil Rights Unit at 1-718- 250-2963.
“In Brooklyn, everyone- regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or sexual identity- must be treated with dignity and respect,” Thompson stated. “The victims in [the Sept. 27 shooting] were minding their own business and had every right to believe they could safely walk the streets. This indictment reflects our determination to protect all of the people of Brooklyn.”
Among those who joined Thompson for the announcement were Public Advocate Letitia James, City Council Member Rafael Espinal, Assemblywoman Maritza Davila and a contingent of local community activists and religious leaders.
The Sept. 27 shooting reportedly occurred at about 7 a.m. in the area of Putnam and Bushwick avenues, where Smith, Sigue and Johnson allegedly spotted the 22-year-old victim walking with two friends later identified as gay.
Law enforcement sources said the three suspects began shouting taunts and anti-gay slurs at the three, then followed them up the block.
Realizing that they were being followed, prosecutors said, the victim and friends began walking rapidly away. Seconds later, police noted, Smith pulled out a handgun and fired six shots, one of which struck the 22-year-old woman in the buttocks.
Officers from the 83rd Precinct responded to the incident. Paramedics brought the victim to Brookdale University Hospital for treatment.
Police reportedly tracked down Sigue and Johnson a short time later; they were booked on charges including third-degree menacing as a hate crime, second-degree aggravated harassment, third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment. Following arraignment on Sept. 28, they were released without bail.
If convicted, they each face up to a year behind bars.
Police picked up Smith hours after the shooting; he remains held without bail and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top charge, second-degree attempted murder as a hate crime.
Det. Eric Sanchez of the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, under the supervision of Capt. Mark Magrone, conducted the investigation. Assistant District Attorney Marc Fliedner, chief of the DA’s Civil Rights Bureau, is prosecuting the case.
