16-year-old arrested in California; is a suspect in alleged hate crime
The Mountain View Police Department, Ca., arrested a 16-year-old youth on Jan. 24 as a suspect in an alleged hate crime incident a month earlier in which a Sikh cabdriver was hit and derogatory comments made against him, a press release said.

The names of the victim and the suspect, who was booked into juvenile hall, were not released. “All I can say is the suspect is 16 years old and the victim is 44 and a Sikh,” Jim Bennett, public information officer for the Mountain View Police Department, told News India-Times.

“On Dec. 21, the victim contacted the Mountain View Police Department via phone to report a battery that had occurred at approximately 1:00 a.m the same day. The victim stated that he was a taxicab driver and had responded to the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Clara,” the release said.

“During the ride to Mountain View, one of the passengers struck the victim in the head. Shortly thereafter the driver was instructed to stop at two different locations, where five of the six passengers exited the taxicab,” the release said.

“The remaining passenger, the suspect who had struck the victim in the head, told the driver to stop in the area of Middlefield and East Streets. While still inside the vehicle, the suspect made derogatory comments to the driver ---- victim is Sikh --- and again struck the victim in the face.”

The release said detectives of the Mountain View Police Department identified the subjects involved in the incident, and arrested the suspect without any incident.





Indicted for homicide in an alleged hit-and-run incident
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced on Feb. 2 that Gurpreet S. Oberoi from Queens, N.Y., has been indicted for criminally negligent homicide for an alleged hit and run incident in which a 26-year-old pedestrian was killed in Manhattan.

Other charges against Oberoi, 26, include leaving the scene of an accident and aggravated unlicensed operation in the second degree, a press release by the DA’s office said.

“The investigation leading to today’s (Feb. 2) indictment revealed that late in the evening on Jan. 10, the defendant was driving his father’s 1999 Chevrolet Suburban, heading north on Park Avenue,” the release said.

“As Oberoi speeded across East 96th Street, the victim, Peter Hornbeck, was struck by the car. After Hornbeck was hit by the speeding car, his body was dragged for a block, to East 97th Street, where it finally was dislodged from the car. Oberoi continued driving north on Park Avenue and abandoned the car on East 100th Street. The defendant then fled to Atlantic City, N.J.”

The release said other passengers in the defendant’s car reported the incident to the police and the investigation revealed that the defendant had been speeding, with his car traveling far faster than the legal limit. Criminal negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident are ‘Class E’ felonies that are punishable by up to four years in prison. Aggravated Unlicensed Operation in the Second Degree is a ‘Class A’ misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.

According to a Daily News report, Oberoi was quoted as telling the police that the traffic lights were green as far as he knew on that day. In a written statement he also said that he got confused since the victim paused on the street.

(Compiled from a press release and news dispatches)