Police now consider attack on Muslim man in Rego Park a hate crime
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REGO PARK RESIDENT KHALED ALY was attacked outside his home in on Woodhaven Boulevard in Rego Park. Google Maps
By David Brand
Police and prosecutors in Queens are now treating an attack on a Muslim man outside his Rego Park home as a hate crime, following pressure from various local elected officials and advocacy organizations.
The NYPD initially decided not to launch a hate crime probe after two assailants beat Khaled Aly in front of his wife, Neamat Taha, and their two children on Nov. 6. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the attackers — a man and a woman — called Aly a “f------ Muslim” while the man hit and kicked him. He suffered extensive facial injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
While the male suspect attacked Aly, the woman allegedly grabbed Taha and attempted to remove her hijab, police said. Officers arrested 35-year-old Giselle Dejesus Thursday for her alleged role in the incident. She was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court Friday.
CAIR-NY said the Dejesus confronted Taha and told her “we are in America” before grabbing at her hijab.
The NYPD first said the attack seemed to relate to an ongoing dispute between neighbors and was not an anti-Islamic attack.
After the Eagle reported on the incident Nov. 10, several local leaders, including Borough President-elect Donovan Richards, urged the NYPD to launch a hate crime probe.
On Thursday, 112th Precinct Commander Joseph Cappelmann told Queens Community Board 6 that investigators had learned new information and determined the attack “may have been motivated by the victim’s religious beliefs.”
”Recently, additional information has come to light and the 112th Precinct Detective Squad and the Hate Crime Task Force along with the Queens County District Attorney’s Office will be seeking to charge this incident as a Hate Crime,” Cappelman said in a statement.
Police arrested Dejesus on Thursday. She is charged with second-degree assault and other offenses.
Officers from the 112th Precinct are working to identify the second suspect, Cappelmann told CB6.
“We are grateful that one of the suspects has been taken into custody—and appropriately charged with a hate crime,” said CAIR-NY Legal Director Ahmed Mohamed. We are hopeful that the male suspect will soon be arrested and charged so that the family can feel safe again. No individual should ever be targeted in a manner such as this.”
