Charges Expanded Against Teens Who Assaulted Sikh Student

April 15, 2004

Source: The Daily Tar Heel

http://www.dailytarheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/15/407e80a7529a2

On April 15, 2004 The Daily Tar Heel reported, "The simple assault charges filed against three teenage boys who were arrested in an altercation with a Sikh UNC senior last month on Franklin Street will be amended to charges of ethnic intimidation as it was determined that the incident stemmed from a racial slur. Gagandeep Bindra met Wednesday with District Attorney Carl Fox and Chapel Hill police Chief Gregg Jarvies to challenge the decision to exclude ethnic intimidation from the charges placed on his attackers. Bindra, who was born in Punjab, India, said he was attacked after the teens called him al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, referring to his brown skin and a scarf, called a patka, worn over his head. The perpetrators were arrested and charged with simple assault, and the incident was listed as a hate crime, but Chapel Hill police left out charges of ethnic intimidation on the basis that there was not a direct link between the verbal insult and the attack."