New U.S. Citizen Beaten with Flag on Long Island

Burning the flag is frowned upon, but what could be more American than using Old Glory to assault an immigrant? Nassau police say an ex-NYPD officer used an American flag and flagpole to hit a Turkish immigrant in Levittown on election night. Ex-cop Richard Vitale allegedly "whacked" gas station manager Yavuz Erdogan—who became a citizen in March—with the flag, and later yelled, "Aliens, get out of my country!" The Post confusingly reports that "hate-crime charges were not filed because the anti-immigrant comments were made after the attack." Click over to the article for a great photo of Erdogan demonstrating how he used the flagpole to fend off his assailants—this guy's as American as apple pie.

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By John Del Signore in News on November 4, 2010 2:49 PM

Comments [rss]

cin

As you can imagine, most of the facts are being left out for sake of a newsworthy story. The poor "immigrant" correctly refused to sell the cigarettes. Instead of handling it by calling the cops first, HE HIT THE 17 YEAR OLD IN THE HEAD WITH A STICK (causing him to get 10 stitches). He went back to Mr. V house where they called 911 and then headed back to the station. The poor "immigrant" grabbed the flag first and tried to attack Mr. V and it was taken away from him. The media has spun it so it sounds as if this man is a flag hater.....he was just protecting his son and his friend. You all should be careful, so now any so called immigrant has to do is claim that he was called an "alien" to cover his ass. Give me a break

OSN!

And I understand nothing occurred between Vitale and Erdogan leading up their tiff? Vitale out of the blue decided to assault Erdogan?

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iamdraize

The logic for him not being charged with hate crime, IMO shows how arbitrary they are. Whos to say when the attack was over...

So if you assault someone and then say 'get out of my country you Dutch bastard' its not a hate crime? Its only if yell 'ya filthy Dutchman' while hitting them is it considered a hate crime? Its seems inconsistent.

He wasn't charged with a hate crime cause the prosecutor didn't want to throw the book at him. When people are charged with hate crimes its because of the prosecutors agenda not because of the crime itself.

PKMKII

Actually, it makes sense that they didn't bring up the hate crimes charge in this case. If the comments in question occurred after the assault, they can't prove that the intent was to be a hate crime; maybe he beat the guy for some other reason, and then just tagged the aliens comment afterward in the heat of the moment.

As far as the validity of hate crimes: hate crime charges make sense because criminals are not incarcerated to satisfy mob-mentality senses of revenge, nor to make moral declarations. Criminals are removed from society for the benefit of society. A hate crime is worse than the same crime committed without that intent, because hate crimes have a chilling effect that goes beyond the individual victim. It sends a message of fear to the victim's entire group. The societal effects are worse in a hate crime.

Oh, and on the whole "blacks don't get charged with hate crimes" claim: [citation needed].

Petey

Thats the problem with hate crimes. They charge some limo driver with aggravated harassment as a hate crime for randomly dropping notes that say "kill jews" but this guy doesn't get it. Some white kid beats up a black kid, its a hate crime, but the reverse, and they call him cracker and whitey, and its not a hate crime.

IMO, do away with hate crimes. A crime is a crime, and its not done because you like someone.

spiritross

... Little did his neighbors and friends know, Mr. Vitale was housing in his garage a fuzzy little creature with a liking for eating cats that the family lovingly named ALF.

JenChungsBaby

Did the NYPD CPR cause the victim to need the more traditional type of CPR?

hotstepper

its all about the irony with those fun-loving "real americans" -- that good ol'timey god-fearin, family-values, anti-immigrant, flag-floggin' irony.

JacqueMehoff

Vitale, now that doesn't sound like an American name to me.

schadenfreudian mensch

God Bless America!

Potty Boy

ha! and love the avatar too!

Mordicai

It just isn't RIGHT to manage a gas station SO CLOSE to Ground Zero. You know?

RevWaldo

Here's a better caption photo:

http://snl.jt.org/caps/episode_sketches/1993-03-13-12.jpg

Crapola

Vitale and sons attacked the manager even though Nassau officers were already on site. I bet Vitale thought his retired NYPD id card would've made the officers turn the other way, I'm glad they did their due diligence.

Guest

so, this un-american ex-cop has no respect for the flag...?

Guest

i guess the victim was using the flag too?

ah, newly americans -- always learning fast.

pmalik

This is the most confusing story I've read this week. I know the Post isn't exactly know for their journalistic prowess, but god damn...

Petey

What animals.

Why didn't the 17 year old kid just have one of his 19, 20, or 21 year old friends buy his blunt for his weed for him?

DEFIANTROA

The yuppies from Long Island cannot read or count correctly, the blurb "ex-cop" gives it away. That is why they have immigrants running their gas station.