NEW YORK: A 30-year-old man, who beat an elderly Sikh man to death while calling him “turban man” during a road rage incident here, has been charged with manslaughter as a hate crime.
Gilbert Augustin also faces charges including assault as a hate crime and unlicensed driving in connection with the death of 66-year-old Jasmer Singh, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.
While the police were treating Singh’s death as a road rage case earlier, Singh’s family pushed for hate crime charges to be filed against Augustin. Singh was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens in critical condition where he died of a brain injury a day after he was assaulted on October 19.
Prosecutors said Augustin called Singh “turban man” during an argument that followed their crash on the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens. “He just hit my father so intense, like so hard on his head. His two front teeth were fallen down,” Singh’s son Subeg Multani said.
Police said that the altercation began after Singh’s Toyota collided with Augustin’s Ford Mustang near Hillside Avenue in Kew Gardens on October 19. Both men pulled over and Augustin got out of his car and confronted Singh.
Prosecutors said quoting witnesses that they heard a man say “no police, no police” when Singh went to call 911 and saw him snatching the phone from the latter’s hands. Singh got out of the car and followed Augustin to get his phone back as the two argued. When Singh was walking back towards his car after getting his phone back, Augustin punched him three times in the head and face, witnesses said. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.