Police are still looking for a driver who called a Sikh man in Queens a "terrorist" before running him over with his pickup truck and dragging him 30 feet.
The Village Voice reports that Sandeep Singh was crossing 99th Street at 101 Avenue in Richmond Hill with his friends when the driver became angry that the group was blocking his car, and told him to "go back to your country." While Singh blocked the path of the truck as his friends called police, the driver ran over Singh, dragging him through the street.
Singh, who is 29, owns a construction business, and has two children, needed more than 20 stitches and remains hospitalized after internal bleeding required stomach surgery, the Times Ledger reports.
“He had pipes in his nose, mouth, bruises all over,” his wife said. “His whole back, from his neck to his lower back, he has really bad road rash that’s going to need skin grafting.”
“He was walking too slow for the gentleman, or actually the animal. And he said something about, ‘Go back to your country, Bin Laden,’” she added. “When Sandeep protested, the man ran him over, dragged him 30 feet under the truck and left him to die.”
Singh's brother, Navdeep Singh, said he had to collect surveillance footage from nearby bodegas and bring them to the 102 Precinct himself, because the NYPD hadn't bothered to do so.
“I want justice for my brother. They have to take this case very seriously because it’s attempted murder plus it’s a hate crime.”
Amardeep Singh, the director of programs for the Sikh Coalition, told the Voice that this sort of indifference on the part of the police is routine. "There's a sense that there is a real apathy in the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill, as it applies to this community," he said.
Yesterday members of the coalition met with the commander of the 102 Precinct, Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner, at the suggestion of the U.S. Department of Justice.
When we asked the NYPD press office about the incident, Detective Kelly Ort asked, "Is the victim deceased?" No, we replied, but the victim was seriously injured, and the hit and run made it a criminal act.
"Thanks for clearing that up for me," Detective Ort replied. We insisted we were only trying to be helpful.
"Oh, is that what you were trying to be?" Detective Ort said, before telling us she wasn't familiar with the case and to try back later. Then she hung up.
Per the NYPD press release sent out on the incident, anyone with information on this vehicle or this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers via telephone, at 1-800-577-TIPS, or on their website. All calls are confidential.
