Home > Our Blog > Recent Spate of Attacks Against Hispanics on Staten Island

Blog Post

Recent Spate of Attacks Against Hispanics on Staten Island

Posted June 29, 2010 by Ted Hesson

Last Thursday morning, Alejandro Galindo was heading home from his job at a Mexican restaurant when he was attacked by three black men on Forest Avenue in the Staten Island neighborhood of Port Richmond, according to NY1.

Galindo, a 52-year-old immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, who has lived in the US for 13 years, was hospitalized with a broken eye socket.

The New York City Police Department is investigating the attack as a hate crime, and looking at a possible link to three other attacks against Mexican immigrants on Staten Island that have occurred since April.

NY1 reports:

As of late Friday, Alejandro Galindo, 52, was still hospitalized with a broken eye socket.

Police say he was walking alone on Forest Avenue when he was approached by three black men on Thursday morning in Port Richmond.

One of the men suddenly punched him in the right side of his face, and Galindo told police the alleged attacker yelled slurs about his Mexican heritage.

Galindo waited to report the incident until police say his daughters found in him bed with blood in and around his right eye. He was taken to Richmond University Medical Center’s surgical intense care unit where he was given 10 stitches above his right eye.

A neighbor convinced the family to report the assault to police. The attacker took off without taking Galindo’s cell phone, watch, bicycle or $100 in his pocket.

“It’s racism. Even though all the people who are against us deny it, you can see that it’s totally racism because they didn’t steal anything. Treating us like we are a game just to have fun, that’s not fair,” said Genoveva Galindo, the victim’s daughter, through an interpreter.

In addition, an 18-year-old Puerto Rican teen was beaten outside a convenience store on Wednesday night, suffering head trauma and a fractured jaw—injuries so bad that he was initially placed in a medically induced coma. His family asked reporters to withhold his name for fear of retribution.

Police are not investigating the incident as a hate crime, but family members of the teen say there’s a connection.

Again, NY1 reports:

Police are not investigating the incident as a hate crime, because a friend of the victim said the attack came after a dispute, and does not appear to be racially motivated.

But the victim’s father, who did not want to be identified, disagrees.

“You think this is a hate crime? I do think so. I do,” said the father. “A lot of people in Port Richmond, New Brighton, West Brighton, everywhere, it’s Latinos getting hit.”

In April, Rodolfo Olmedo, a 26-year-old Mexican immigrant, was allegedly attacked by teens wielding 2x4’s and spouting racial slurs. Later that month the teens were indicted, but a Staten Island grand jury didn’t find sufficient evidence to support hate crime charges.

Tags : hate crimes, mexican, staten island

Permalink Comments