As Pamela Geller notes: “if the imam is lying, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law — the same law that he hopes will indict the two infidel boys. These false accusations will incite Muslim hate and violence against non-Muslims here and across the world.”
An update on this story. “Eddie Crespo won’t be charged with a hate crime for alleged beating of Queens imam,” by Melissa Grace in the New York Daily News, December 14 (thanks to Whup T. Due):
Hate crime charges were dropped against an off-duty MTA Bridges and Tunnels officer accused of attacking a Queens imam in the subway, prosecutors said Tuesday.
A Manhattan grand jury voted not to indict Eddie Crespo, 28 – who testified before the panel – on assault charges for the alleged Dec. 8 attack on Rod Peterson, officials said.
“He stopped a fight. He did what he was trained to do,” said Crespo’s lawyer, Arnold Keith. “He’s a hero.”
Crespo’s pal, Albert Melendez, was indicted on misdemeanor assault, not the felony counts he faced, officials said.
“We’re extremely disappointed,” said Hassan Ahmad, a lawyer representing Peterson, who has a criminal history….
“What are you, a camel jockey?” Melendez, 30, allegedly yelled while grabbing Peterson and hitting him in the face in the 3:25 a.m. confrontation that started on the A train and spilled out onto the northbound platform at Canal St.
Officials said Melendez, of Harlem, also shouted, “I don’t like Muslims!”
Melendez’s lawyer did not return a call for comment, but Keith said Melendez is married to a Muslim woman.