Two have been arrested but not charged with hate crime
By Heather Harlan
Special to AsianWeek
Two men have been arrested and charged with murdering a Bangladeshi American journalist in Brooklyn during what police describe as a racially motivated revenge attack on a victim of mistaken identity.
Hardy Marston, 18, and Rafael Santos, 21, confessed to being part of a mob of up to 20 men who beat Mizanor Rahman to death with baseball bats, wooden sticks and iron rods after the 37-year-old photojournalist unwittingly stumbled into the midst of a violent dispute between a group of Dominican and Bangladeshi youths, police said. Both suspects are from Queens. Investigators are searching for other members of the mob and expect to make more arrests, police said.
The violence erupted in the neighborhood of East New York after a fight broke out over a stolen bicycle, police said. It allegedly began when a 12-year-old Bangladeshi American boy riding the bike accidentally grazed a Latino teen, who then stole the bike. The Bangladeshi American boy then called his friends for help. After a member of the Bangladeshi group was able to retrieve the bicycle, the fighting escalated and gunshots were fired, say authorities. According to investigators, the Latinos — many of whom had allegedly been drinking earlier at the Dominican Day parade in Manhattan — then began attacking Bangladeshi men they encountered at random. At least three were injured.
One victim had his nose broken, another suffered a broken arm, while the third suffered cuts, police said.
As the fight raged, Rahman, who was returning home from his job around midnight as a restaurant bus boy in Lower Manhattan and talking on a cell phone, emerged from a nearby subway exit. The Latino group quickly set upon him, apparently believing he was the person who had retrieved the bicycle earlier and was calling for backup, police said.
“There’s obvious elements of bias in it, and the individual who was assaulted and killed was not a part of it,” said NYPD Inspector Michael Gabriel during a news conference to announce the arrests. “So he was attacked because he is Bangladeshi.”
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is participating in the investigation, said Gabriel. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office said the two suspects are currently not being charged with a hate crime but are facing charges of second-degree murder and gang assault.
“It’s still under review and the investigation is still open,” said Sandy Silverstein, a spokesperson for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. “They would be charged if they set out to kill him because he was Bangladeshi. What we’ve determined right now is that they attacked him because they had mistaken him for the person who had taken the bike back.”
Silverstein said the two men only admitted to the attack on Rahman and said they weren’t involved with the attacks on the other three Bangladeshi’s that night. When asked what the district attorney’s response was to Gabriel’s comments at the press conference, Silverstein said his office had “no comment.”
Members of the Bangladeshi American community say the clash was the culmination of a series of ethnically-charged violent incidents between Latino and Bangladeshi immigrants. Some described groups of young Latinos who hang out on street corners, menacing and robbing Bangladeshi men as they walk by late at night on their way home from work.
Since the murder, police from the 75th Precinct have stepped up patrols in the area and held a community forum at a local mosque. They also said they plan to meet with local Latino organizations. But neighborhood residents said they are still concerned about tensions between the two ethnic groups.
“I am happy that something is being done, but I think more needs to be done,” said Anwar Khan, following the meeting at the Majid-ul Aman mosque.
Rahman was an award-winning photojournalist before coming to New York three years ago, hoping to continue his career here, friends said. He had left behind a wife and young son in Bangladesh, to whom he regularly sent money, and was planning to visit them at the end of the month. Members of the community have started a fund to help the family.
“He was telling us he was missing his wife and family,” said Nadim Ahmed, a friend. “Now they will be seeing his dead body.”
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