Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced Aug. 9 that five men have been indicted by a Queens Grand Jury on hate crime charges in the bias-related assault last month on a Sikh man in Richmond Hill, Queens, who was punched, kicked and beaten into unconsciousness, according to a press release.

“Crimes motivated by bias –– particularly those involving violence –– can never be tolerated. Hate crimes do more than threaten the safety and welfare of all citizens. They inflict on victims incalculable physical and emotional damage and tear at the very fabric of free society. Hate crimes intimidate and disrupt entire communities and vitiate the civility that is essential to healthy democratic processes. When they do regrettably occur, they will be vigorously prosecuted and severely punished,” District Attorney Brown was quoted as saying in the release.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendants as: Salvatore Maceli, 26, a painter; Nicholas Maceli, 22, a construction worker; Victor Cosentino, 58, an account manger –– all of 31 Ethel Avenue in Valley Stream in Nassau County –– Ryan Meehan, 24, of 84-12 127th Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, a sheet metal worker; Terence Lyons, 53, of 1328 Post Avenue in Elmont in Nassau County, retired, according to the release.

The defendants had been charged in a three-count indictment filed earlier on Aug. 9 in Queens Supreme Court with assault in the second degree as a hate crime, assault in the second degree and aggravated harassment in the second degree, and face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

According to Brown, defendants Nicholas and Salvatore Maceli are brothers and Victor Cosentino is their step-father. Defendant Lyons is the uncle of Nicholas and Salvatore Maceli and defendant Meehan is allegedly Nicholas Maceli’s friend.

Brown said that the indictment charges that on July 11, 2004, between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. in the vicinity of 101st Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard in Richmond Hill, Queens, the defendants taunted Rajinder Singh Khalsa, 50, and a companion, Gurcharan Singh, 51, both wearing turbans required by the Sikh religion, by calling the turbans “dirty curtains” and demanded that the Sikh complainants remove them from their heads.

The indictment alleges Rajinder Singh Khalsa was punched in the face, knocked to the ground and kicked, and then lost consciousness.

(Compiled from a press release by S. Chakravarty)