19-year-old youth arrested over attacks on elderly Sikh tourist, 2 others in New York
New York, April 15: A 19-year-old youth has been arrested for his alleged involvement in attacks on three Sikh men in Queens, New York, United States, including brutal assault on an elderly Sikh tourist, earlier this month. He faces charges of hate crimes.
Vernon Douglas of Brownsville was arrested on Thursday in Brooklyn. He has been charged with multiple counts of robbery, assault, aggravated harassment and hate crimes, the Queens Chronicle reported.
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On April 3, Vernon Douglas allegedly approached 70-year-old Nirmal Singh near the corner of Lefferts Boulevard and 95th Avenue and punched him in the face in an unprovoked assault. The attacker fled the scene on foot and the incident was taken over by the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force. The images shared on social media showed Nirmal Singh with a bloodied turban, face and clothes. He suffered a broken nose and bruises to his face.
The Consulate General of India in New York had condemned the assault on the elderly Sikh man terming it as “deeply disturbing.” The elderly man returned to India after the attack.
The arrested accused was also involved in the attack on two Sikh men in the same neighbourhood in the city this week, the report said. Douglas and another suspect, who was arrested earlier on Tuesday, attacked two Sikh men, removing their religious headwear, robbing them of their money and striking them on the head and body with closed fists and a wooden stick.
While 20-year-old Hezekiah Coleman was taken into custody on the same day from an abandoned house near the scene of the incident, Douglas was absconding.
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-PTC News with agency inputs
